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Blood Orange - Shine EP

Reviewed by Andreas on 27th April 2003

This Nottingham quartet is very technically apt, that should be said. They're all very good at their respective instruments and so forth. Their three-track EP is extremely professional sounding. It's a very tight, good recording, and so on. Just sad about the songs really, seeing as they're not too good.

Blood Orange play kind of technical metal, full of drab solos and chugging riffs. The problem is that this repeats itself through all the songs, making them both dull and hard to separate from each other. Even the 2:46 long opening track "You Missed Me" manages to become boring before it's over. On the brighter side of things, some of the guitar fills are quite inventive, which brightens the music up a little.

Sadly, inventive guitar fiddling doesn't rescue Blood Orange. They come across as a mix between early Tool and Iron Maiden. And I'm not joking. The angular, quasi-Tool guitar riffs spliced with (doubled) solos are, to be honest, a bit sleep-inducing. The worst thing for me, however, is the vocalist. Technically, he's a very able vocalist. But he's got the annoyance of Bruce Dickinson mixed with vocal melodies stolen from the first two Tool albums. The influences are too obvious. As for the lyrics, they give me nothing at all. That might be me being bitter inside or something, but they were just boring, I think.

Anyone who's listened to rock and metal have already heard this stuff, it's nothing new, it's not very exciting, it's just... boring. If Blood Orange would put their minds to it, they're probably capable of writing good songs. The songs are very run-of-the-mill in my ears, and in addition there's no real emotion coming across through the music. They've just failed to write good tunes on the "Shine" EP. Try harder next time. Still, I'm sure this will appeal to some people, even if I didn't like it. If you just want perfectly performed, standard rock/metal I'd suggest Blood Orange. To repeat myself slightly, the problem with the band is their lack of decent songwriting, and most importantly, they haven't got a style and feel of their own.

To say something positive about this band, they probably give really good, energetic concerts. I'd go to one of their gigs, but I wouldn't under any circumstance buy their cds, and I don't suggest that you do either.

[their website is now dead]

Rating: 3/10
Website: www.bloodorange.fsnet.co.uk

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