{"id":331988,"date":"2025-08-10T01:57:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T01:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/331988\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T01:57:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T01:57:20","slug":"review-blood-vulture-die-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/331988\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Blood Vulture – Die Close"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published by Vince<\/strong><\/a> on August 9, 2025August 9, 2025<\/p>\n

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Artwork by: Marald van Haasteren<\/a><\/p>\n

Style: Doom Metal, Alternative Metal (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Alice in Chains, Baroness, Pallbearer
Country: New York, United States
Release date: 27 June 2025<\/p>\n

This may upset some people, but I thought Alice In Chains<\/strong>\u2019 mid-Aughts reformation yielded some of the band\u2019s coolest work. Perhaps not anything remotely as eternal as \u201cMan in the Box,\u201d \u201cRooster,\u201d or \u201cWould?,\u201d but the shift from dark, moody grunge to dark, moody, doom-inspired grooves and atmosphere on Black Gives Way to Blue (2009) and The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013) was fucking sick. Furthermore, they helped propel me towards bands like Pallbearer<\/strong> and other purveyors of riff-forward heavy rock. Disappointingly, the William DuVall-era of Alice in Chains<\/strong> has seen little activity since 2018\u2019s Rainier Fog. Luckily, Blood Vulture<\/strong> has swooped in to partake of Jerry Cantrell and the boys\u2019 lunch.<\/p>\n

Circling the skylines of New York, the titular Blood Vulture<\/strong> reveals itself as one Jordan Olds, host of YouTube talk show Two Minutes to Late Night and, apparently, omni-gifted musician. From the girthsome, riff-forward doom guitars, modern metalcore-flavored synthesizers, roiling bass, down to the eerie Jerry Cantrell-esque crooning and bellowing, Olds executes nearly every aspect of debut album Die Close. One-man projects are nothing new in the world of metal (black metal, especially, seems laden with bedroom conjurers). While undertaking such a project is, I think, deserving of some measure of applause out the gate, there runs the risk that such high-minded ambitions may outstrip the capacity of the practitioner. For every Midnight Odyssey<\/strong>, a thousand more Oksennus<\/strong>1<\/a> <\/strong>(Oksenni?) exist, filling the void with noise. Olds, to his credit, appears to have sidestepped some of this auteur-minded hubris by stacking a sizable guest roster at his back. But is this enough to give Blood Vulture<\/strong>\u2019s debut the wings needed to soar? Or is the folly of man destined to curse Die Close with Icarian luck?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll not beat around the wing\u2014er, bush: This album kicks ass. From the opening guitar line and creeping vocal motifs of \u201cDie Close: Overture\u201d (finally, an intro that warrants its existence!) to the last resplendent harmonies of \u201cDie Close: Finale,\u201d Blood Vulture<\/strong> spends forty-five minutes delivering delectable platters of slow-rolling, tectonic alternative metal skewed toward a darkly Gothic ethos about a vampire living out the last of his immortal days long after the death of Humanity. Thick yet nimble riffs drill through post-apocalyptic landscapes of thunderous drums and growling bass tones, synths glittering like snatches of starlight piercing smog-choked skies. Olds\u2019 voice is rich and thrumming with a decadent power worthy of his centuries-old protagonist. Alongside the obvious Cantrell-canting, there\u2019re nuggets of John Baizely (Baroness<\/strong>) lingering in his harmonies (\u201cDie Close: Interlude\u201d), and even flashes of Sumerlands<\/strong>\u2019 Phil Swanson in the way his voice melds with the production, culminating in a mosaic of winsome sonic idents.<\/p>\n

Musically, Die Close haunts the liminal space between the morbid emotionality of Alice in Chains<\/strong> and the heaving riff-roil and production-blasting of modern doom mavericks Pallbearer<\/strong>. Olds buries the listener in bone-churning, groove-laden guitars, like the plaintive howls of Mankind\u2019s vengeful ghost echoing across this blasted necropolis called Earth. Moe Watson\u2019s drumming is equally committed, pounding and bludgeoning whatever life remains, heavy as the footsteps of our doomed vampiric wayfarer\u2014yet capable of breaking into bursts of potent energy when required (\u201cAn Embrace In The Flood,\u201d \u201cA Dream About Starving To Death,\u201d \u201cGrey Mourning\u201d), striking out with stampeding double bass and frenzied ride cymbal strikes like a sudden onset of PTSD. Doom metal can sometimes wander into realms of navel gazing, keen to drill away at a riff or motif endlessly to the point where the proverbial horse is beyond beaten. Blood Vulture<\/strong> soars over this pitfall thanks to considerate track lengths and song structures designed around forward momentum. Guest contributions from the likes of Kristin Hayter (Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter<\/strong>, ex-Lingua Ignota<\/strong>), Brian Fair (Shadows Fall<\/strong>, Overcast<\/strong>, Hell Night<\/strong>, Downpour<\/strong>), and Jade Puget (AFI<\/strong>, Blaqk Audio<\/strong>, XTRMST<\/strong>) fit into Die Close\u2019s architecture flawlessly, adding to the album\u2019s layers of dark, tragic beauty. (Hayter on \u201cEntwined\u201d creates an absolute standout of a track, in particular, her gospel-like vocals the perfect partner to Olds\u2019 resonant cleans.) Even the interludes, of which there are three, secure worthy positions thanks to how they return to and build upon what becomes the album\u2019s central motif, with \u201cDie Close: Finale\u201d closing the story with the kind of sorrowful bombast worthy of a suffering immortal.<\/p>\n

Another feather in Blood Vulture<\/strong>\u2019s plumage is a far simpler (on paper), yet no less important matter\u2014one that has oft-wounded many an ambitious band and, generally (for me), marred the very reputation of the vaunted concept album. Olds has managed to strike a fine balance between his narrative goals and musical musts. He never forgets that Die Close is an album. Not a book. Not a movie. An album, whose mission first and foremost must be to enrapture the listener with its sonic wiles. Lyrics, and storytelling by proxy, are necessary components to this configuration, but when Aristotelian directives override bardic needs with three-act fancies, there\u2019s little to be salvaged from the experience. Barring the \u201cDie Close\u201d trifecta of interludes, any of Die Close\u2019s seven proper tracks can stand strong in a playlist shuffle without blunting momentum or capsizing the story, as the narratives are nestled snugly within the ebb and flow of their parent songs.<\/p>\n

Since Sleep Token<\/strong> dropped Even In Arcadia back in May, I have been wondering if there would be anything in 2025 to come along and grab me in any similar way. I\u2019ve listened to more than a few fun records, but most have been missing some measure of that special sauce required to saturate my taste. Blood Vulture<\/strong> doesn\u2019t entirely reach the same level of addictive listening\u2014few things will, at least until Silent Planet<\/strong> drops a new album\u2014but this has been the first record post-EIA that I\u2019ve sat back and gone, \u201cI don\u2019t really have anything negative to say.\u201d Maybe the production could be a little clearer at times\u2014the bass tends to get lost amidst the ruckus, an affliction all too common within metal\u2014but this is some of the grooviest, coolest stuff I\u2019ve listened to all year. Olds (and his collaborators) must certainly be commended for dropping such a confident piece of work. I don\u2019t know who in 2025 may be waiting for new Alice in Chains<\/strong>, but if you\u2019re out there, fret not: Blood Vulture<\/strong> is here to fill the void, and then some.<\/p>\n

Recommended tracks: A Dream About Starving To Death, Grey Mourning, Entwined, Die Close: Finale
You may also like: A Pale Horse Named Death, Hangman\u2019s Choir
Final verdict: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Related links: Bandcamp<\/a> | Official Website<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> | Metal-Archives<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: Pure Noise Records \u2013 Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Blood Vulture<\/strong> is:
\u2013 Jordan Olds (vocals, guitars, bass, synthesizers)
With guests<\/strong>:
\u2013 Jade Puget (additional guitars on \u201cGrey Mourning\u201d)
\u2013 Kristin Hayter (additional vocals on \u201cEntwined\u201d and \u201cDie Close: Finale\u201d)
\u2013 Brian Fair (additional vocals on \u201cBurn For It\u201d)
\u2013 Moe Watson (drums)
\u2013 Gina Gleason (additional guitars on \u201cDie Close: Interlude\u201d, additional vocals on \u201cDie Close: Finale\u201d)
\u2013 Emily Lee (additional vocals on \u201cDie Close: Finale\u201d)
\u2013 Steve Brodsky (additional vocals on \u201cDie Close: Finale\u201d)
\u2013 Kayleigh Goldsworthy (violin on \u201cEntwined,\u201d \u201cDie Close: Interlude,\u201d and \u201cAbomination\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n