BLOODY TIMES-On A Mission

Independent

Although the roots of Bloody Times are in Germany on their second CD it is an international gathering of musicians participating. Ross The Boss (former Manowar) plays along, while two ex-Iced Earth members have an important role as well. Singer John Greely sang on the Iced Earth album ‘Night Of The Stormrider’ (1992) while drummer Raphael Saini also had a spell in that group. Bloody Times is a traditional sounding heavy metal band with the goal to pay tribute to classic heavy metal and that is exactly what is happening on ‘On A Mission’. And they don’t give a damn about producing anything original as the record is a musical mix between Manowar and Iced Earth all the way, complete with fantasy lyrics and topics like war, death etcetera. So is this a record that you should take notice of? Well, if you are happy with material that Manowar and Iced Earth probably would record on a misty Monday morning perhaps ‘On A Mission’ is something for you. But John Greely makes painfully clear why he was axed after only one album with Iced Earth as his singing is all over the place. Sure, it is heavy, there is plenty of guitar work (there are a handful of guitarists sharing the work) but the songs are of paper thin quality. Only opener ,,Alliance’’ I find really acceptable but the rest is very mediocre. If you like this kind of stuff I would recommend Jon Schaffer’s Purgatory EP ‘Purgatory’ that sounds a whole lot better and more genuine. But each to his own I guess.