Bloodgood "Dangerously Close"

Bloodgood

Dangerously Close

2013 B. Goode Records

Produced By: Paul Jackson

album cover

insert

back

disc

Track Listings

Lamb of God (3:25) (music video)

Run Away (3:28)

Child on Earth (5:21)

I Will (3:27)

Bread Alone (4:09)

Pray (2:51)

I Can Hold On (4:16)

Run the Race (4:04)

Father Father (4:06)

Man in the Middle (4:10)

Crush Me (2:52)

In the Trenches (5:01)

Musicians

Michael Bloodgood: Bass, backing vocals

Les Carlsen: Lead vocals

Paul Jackson: Guitar, backing vocals

Oz Fox: Guitar, backing vocals

Kevin Whisler: Drums

In the 80's and 90's I listened to a lot of the bands signed to ForeFront, Intense, Alarma and other labels, but one band that my surprise you that I never listened to much was Bloodgood. I owned a few of their albums on cassette, but like most of the cassettes I owned at the time I just never listened to them very often. I owned those Live in America VHS concert videos, but I guess I was more into Angelica and Stryper around this time. The one album of theirs that I owned on CD and really enjoyed was their first for the Broken label, All Stand Together.

Fast forward to 2015 and who do I see start to pop up in my Facebook news feed? None other than Bloodgood. The band was promoting their newest album, Dangerously Close, but most of the time I saw them pop up on Facebook was because of their loyalty to the Seattle Seahawks NFL team. I'm from Charlotte, NC so I'm a Carolina Panthers fan and needless to say the Seahawks and their fans are like a four letter word in these parts! However I was intrigued that Bloodgood was performing and recording again so I had to check them out.

The first new music I found was the music video for the opening track on this album, Lamb of God. I was immediately blown away and I knew that I wanted to add this album to my musical library. By this time it was getting closer to Christmas and I needed a few inexpensive gift ideas for my family so I told them about this album and hoped that I'd find it under the tree on Christmas morning.

Outside of the opening track, I found that I enjoyed nearly every track on the album. I say nearly because there are a few musically that just didn't vibe with me (Crush Me). One of the aspects of this album and band that blows me away is Les' vocals. I don't know how old he is as of this recording, but oh my can this guy still sing. I guess I shouldn't be that shocked as several older bands have been reuniting and the lead singers still sound great (i.e. Michael Sweet of Stryper). Speaking of the yellow and black attack, I also noticed that Oz Fox had joined the band and I could immediately tell upon listening to the full album. I don't mean to take anything away from Paul Jackson as I've been equally impressed by his craftsmanship.

The liner notes don't give you song lyrics, but it does give credit to the members that wrote each song as well as tell you who has the guitar solos. Paul takes the lead on Lamb of God, Run Away, I Will, Pray, I Can Hold On, Crush Me and In the Trenches. Oz takes lead on Child on Earth, Bread Alone and the both share guitar duties on Run the Race, Father Father and Man in the Middle.

Michael Bloodgood is as good on bass as anyone I've seen or heard play (sorry Doug Pinnick). What I didn't know going in was the drummer, Kevin Whisler played drums for one of my favorite bands that never got the attention they deserved, The Watchmen!

Since receiving this album for Christmas I've had a lot of time to listen to it. I have a good commute to work and I travel for work a bit too and this album has stayed in my vehicle's player the majority of the time. I feel bad that I haven't given more time to other albums I also got a Christmas, but I've just enjoyed this album that much. The song writing is fantastic and musically I'm just blown away. I'm seriously considering going backwards and looking to pick up some of their earlier works now. I can't recommend this album enough. I'm sure long time fans are enjoying it as we speak, however I've officially been won over.