Blood Divisions - Cardinal One

Share this on Facebook | Share this on Twitter

When I first came across this album, without knowing it was full of famous people, I was blown away, first by the quality of its production, the performance of the musicians and the caliber of both the artwork and the songwriting, although I couldn’t quite make out which one was a cover and which one wasn’t until I had to do a little extra research.

It is no wonder this is such a kick ass record, with the collaboration of members and former members of OBITUARY, ICED EARTH, SIX FEET UNDER, TESTAMENT, DEICIDE and DEATH; In the words of the singer, executive producer and world famous professional wrestler Chris Jericho: "BLOOD DIVISIONS is the perfect heavy metal snack mix, It's a complete blend of balls-out thrash, virtuoso technique and '70s hard rock melodies. It's an honor to be a part of this project, as I'd be a fan even if I wasn't in the band! plus I love machine elves." Quoting one of the original tracks composed for this Cardinal One album by BLOOD DIVISIONS.

This is not an ordinary work of music production, but a journey of epic proportions inside the creative mind of a super-group blending both creativity and experience of the members in taking part in the main roads of Metal in the Florida Metal scene, one of the most prolific and strong in the United States of America, and the best of it all, it is all for Charity, since part of the sales will be destined for Rock and Rescue, a non-profit organization. “The Morgue” is an almost ten-minute-long track that has the listener lifted from its comfort zone, and the silence the precedes the action of playing the Play button every time; since it has a new approach despite being a NASTY SAVAGE song, recorded by BLOOD DIVISIONS and performed in a full-on approach to make this a very memorable version of the track originally released in 1985.

A genre? Who cares about tags when the heart and the mind area taken away by some of the most unprecedented musical compositions in music today; blending elements that only the few and the proud can overtake, with the experienced gained over the years to turn their knowledge into an original recording with complete creative freedom and good will towards its ultimate goal as in “March of the Machine Elves”  an unprecedented track with a multi focused target of creation when it comes to the different genres fitted into one song. An outstanding prowess and talent are depicted in the performance of the musicians that recorded this album, and it shouldn’t be any other way, since the presence of such figures as Ralph Santolla and Terry Butler appear on the credits as collaborations on this charity directed project.

This is a different kind of work in the sense that instead of struggling musicians of any age trying to impress new audiences to insert themselves in their personal taste, we have a group of masters of the craft showing once more, than besides being generous, having friends is so much more important than having enemies.

Songwriting: 9
Originality: 9
Memorability: 10
Production: 10