Blood Star - First Sighting (2023)
The first full-length album from Visigoth guitarist Jamison Palmer’s new project is a quick blast of traditional hard rock and metal with husky female vocals.
- All For Nothing - Uptempo riffage breaks into a driving verse with an appealing vocal melody. The choruses and bridge are solid, but feel like they tread water a little bit. A strong rocker with no glaring flaws, though it never quite hits its full potential – let’s say 7/10.
- Fearless Priestess - A lyrical riff rolls into a nice vocal-and-guitar tradeoff verse. The vocal lines are strong, and the pre-chorus builds nicely into the chorus. The bridge is a nice change-up with a memorable melody, followed by a very good solo. The final choruses also have some nice guitar embellishments to them. Really good, probably does enough to round it up to an 8/10.
- No One Wins - A simple but appealing riff leads into another driving verse with a strong vocal melody. The chorus is pretty good, though the title lyric doesn’t land as hard as it could. Great guitar solo followed by a really good fuzzy bass solo, and the last chorus finally sticks the landing. Short and to the point, this is another very good track that probably merits a round-up to 8/10.
- The Observers - A synthy opener breaks into a great riff reminiscent of Jake E. Lee era Ozzy. Palmer provides lead vocals here, and he’s competent, but not the best singer. The verse melody is OK, but the chorus duet with main vocalist Madeline Michelle is a lot more effective. The atmospheric interlude anchored by a strong riff is an interesting choice, and the variant choruses toward the end work well, especially when Michelle takes over the lead vocal with Palmer dropping to the background. This one’s a bit of a mixed bag, mostly quite good with some OK parts, but I think a 7/10 is appropriate.
- Dawn Phenomenon - A brief melancholy acoustic instrumental with tinges of the Old West and some synth accompaniment that serves as an intro to the next track. Not a ton of meat here, but what’s here is good. 7/10.
- Cold Moon - A driving beat with some nicely harmonized chords breaks into a punchy verse that soon blossoms into a big, catchy chorus. Another round of verse and chorus, then we get an interesting riff-driven guitar solo section and another tasteful fuzzy bass solo. A final verse and choruses lead to a long decaying note to end the song. Great stuff, 8/10.
- Going Home - Ringing clean notes and a persistent bass line break into a great bright riff with a driving rhythm. Strong vocal lines drive the verse and chorus as clean guitar accents duck in and out of the music. Great guitar solos with a sweet harmonized section give way to more atmospheric clean guitar and a great bridge. A riffy interlude gains some clean accompaniment before rolling back into the chorus to close things out. Great stuff, 8/10.
- Wait To Die - Some odd-rhythm chords soon break into more driving riffage supporting a pretty good verse. The chorus is great, as is the brief bridge, and there are strong solos throughout. Really good overall, a very robust 7/10.
Average: 7.5/10
Weighted: 7.6/10
Blood Star’s debut is a very lean 33 minutes of almost relentlessly driving hard rock and metal. The songwriting is consistently good to great, though it never quite knocks it out of the park. Madeline Michelle’s vocals are deep, powerful, and full of character, and she gets to apply them to melodies that are mostly strong and memorable. Jamison Palmer is a fountain of great riffs and good-to-great solos, though perhaps he should relegate his vocals to the background.
On the whole the album is very good, and the driving rhythms and short run time make for an infectious listen. I’m eager to hear how they evolve over time.
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