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Quite how so many have missed the mark with this lot is frankly a mystery to me, because every ardent power metaller should have been foaming at the mouth to grab a copy of this masterwork of pure, solid, headbangingly fierce craftsmanship. First of all, their vocalist is Urban Breed - of Tad Morose fame- and second, well, does their need to be a second? This guy is one of the best in the business, and when you apply his sonorous wail to songs of this caliber, the only possible outcome is victory, beyond all reasonable doubt.

Here, on the band's debut album, we have eleven well crafted, fastidiously performed Power Metal anthems that sit somewhere in between HammerFall, Iron Maiden and Edguy, with every single one of them owing a quarry of influence to metal history. Big, catchy choruses, nail-biting riffs, shrieking solos, soaring vocals; this has it all. From the galloping opener "Behind The Moon", to its polished follow up "Into The Dark", from the triumphant Freedom Call pomposity of "Fallen From Grace" to the demonic, ball-busting sing along chorus of the title track itself, Bloodbound are certainly not re-writing the history books, but they have read them with fervor, and with that knowledge they have created an homage to the style that is severely hard to lever out of your stereo. Ignore the fact that they look like Dimmu at a fancy dress party; these guys are the shit. And with a follow up that is even better - albeit with Michael Boremann at the mic - Helloween had better be prepared to vacate the Power Metal throne. Their time is up.