BLOODGOOD – Out Of The Darkness [Legends Remastered Series]

As part of their ‘Legends Remastered’ series, highly respected reissue label Retroactive Records has released the 2 more celebrated albums by BLOODGOOD. As requested, here we have both.
The band’s 4th effort “Out Of The Darkness” is another great slice of ’80s American Hard Rock, now remastered in all its splendor.

“Out Of The Darkness” from 1989 represents a heavier effort than the previous album from the revered Seattle, Washington based act BloodGood. But its muscle is blended with the sheen melodic hard rock waves of the era, resulting in a kicking hard-rocking disc but still catchy and commercial.
The move to a more accessible direction proved successful overall, with BloodGood adding another dimension to its already well-rounded sound and expanding upon its extensive fan base in the process.

There was a line up change in Bloodgood for this “Out Of The Darkness”; new drummer Kevin Whistler and guitarist Paul Jackson. Jackson, in comparison to talented David Zaffiro, provided a heavier edge with playing on the starker and more resolute side of things.
Just check track 6 ‘Hey! You’ as example, delivering equal parts rumbling low-end groove and bluesy guitar driven hard rock tinctures in abundance. Michael Bloodgood’s palpitating bass stands out accordingly, particularly for the curtly done refrain. The gist is an early Van Halen meets old school Guardian vibe that cannot help but force you to hit the repeat button.

Other standout numbers include the moving ‘Let My People Go’ – which somewhow reminds me Whitesnake’s Cheap n’ Nasty groove yet with a Dokken-esque punch, ‘America’ with its really good acapella vocal layered harmony opening, the strong midtempo ‘Top Of The Mountain’ and the first rate ballad ‘Changing Me’.

As part of the Retroactive Records ‘Legends Remastered’ series this disc comes housed in a 4-panel digipak with all new cover artwork and brief synopsis of the history of the album on the rear cover.
As with the ‘Rock In A Hard Place’ reissue, there are no bonus tracks. That’s okay because these 9 tracks sound amazing on this remaster – really isn’t anything you could add would make this album any better. It rocks greatly as it is.
Retroactive Records has done a fantastic remastering where low-end now comes across much more pronounced (you can literally feel Michael Bloodgood’s bass permeating the mix) while rhythm guitars deliver elevated edge and bite with guitar leads coming across cleaner.
This reissue was factory-pressed at the end of last year (check the prints saying 2015) but due to logistic problems it was finally available since March 2016.

Considered by many critics among the best US Hard Rock records from the late ’80s yet to be discovered by fans of the genre, “Out Of The Darkness” is one of the albums from the era that better hold up the test of time.
This album boils down to simmering straight hard rock cuts and classic power ballads that form a near perfect union that cannot help but leave you returning time-and-again.
Long-term BloodGood fans (not to mention those into the traditional and melodic hard rock side of things) deserve to benefit from the improved remastering to this Retroactive Records reissue.
Highly Recommended

Only at 0dayrox

01 – Out Of The Darkness
02 – Let My People Go
03 – America
04 – It’s Alright
05 – Top Of The Mountain
06 – Hey! You
07 – Mad Dog World
08 – Changing Me
09 – New Age Illusion

Les Carlson – Lead Vocals
Paul Jackson – Guitars
Michael Bloodgood – Bass
Kevin Whistler – Drums

BUY IT
www.amazon.com/Out-Darkness-Legends-Remastered-Bloodgood/dp/B018J14PBG