CCMusic.com

Blood From the Soul is the vision of legendary musician Shane Embury, longtime member of extreme-music pioneers NAPALM DEATH. In the early '90s Embury partnered with Lou Koller (SICK OF IT ALL) to create the Blood From the Soul debut To Spite The Hand That Bleeds (Earache, 1993). The album was an experimental fusion of industrial, metal, hardcore, and punk. And along with GODFLESH, PITCH SHIFTER, MEATHOOK SEED, and SCORN, they helped spawn a new wave of industrial-metal. Fast forward to 2020 and Blood From the Soul has awakened from hyper-sleep. Joining Embury on this new creative journey are now Dirk Verbeuren (MEGADETH, SOILWORK, ABORTED, TRONOS), Jacob Bannon (CONVERGE, WEAR YOUR WOUNDS, UMBRA VITAE), and Jesper Liverod (NASUM, BURST). DSM-5 is a 12-song conceptual album from Blood From the Soul. Lyrically, the album is written from the perspectives of human beings as well as sentient machines. Metaphorically, it explores the relationship between consciousness and physical/psychological deterioration amid a multitude of stresses, reading as both dystopian science fiction as well as poignant editorial on the turbulent present and our uncertain future. Verbeuren's razor-sharp percussion propels the musical vessel as Embury and Liverod's walls of strings and ambience infectiously build with imposing power. Vocally, the material is as vicious as they come with Bannon at the helm. Engineer Russ Russell (NAPALM DEATH, AT THE GATES, THE HAUNTED) also created soundscapes for the epic, slo-burn closer DSM-5, while John Cooke and Tom Dring (VENOMOUS CONCEPT, CORRUPT MORAL ALTAR) contributed additional ominous noise to this final transmission.