Blind Cross

Blind Cross

Merciless Time

Pure Steel Records

July 5th 2019

Blind Cross features veterans of traditional heavy metal. The vocalist is Juan Ricardo (U.S.), with Rocco Stellmacher on guitar, Andy Korte on drums and Hörold on bass, all from Germany. Ricardo has done vocals for a long list of entities. Currently he sings in Wretch, Ritual and Sunless Sky, according to Metal Archives, which also names some other nine former projects and bands. Metal Archives gives other information: Stellmacher has worked with some eight bands and projects. The rhythm section comes from Double Action, and said band dates back to 1979, but it’s not clear how active they are now because it’s been some 20 years since the last studio album, information which may or may not be accurate about all these lesser-known bands and projects on Metal Archives. At any rate, this is old-school traditional heavy metal when it comes to Blind Cross.

The singing is high and it is important that listeners familiarize themselves with Ricardo’s high-pitched screaming style of vocals. It is a pretty intense and true-to-the-old-school-screamer singing. The music is total loyalty to the 1970s and 1980s ways of making metal music. The rhythm section is the bottom end and the guitar is the driving force and the singing is the center of attention. The music is hard-edged songs with no distractions and nothing poppy about it. It is blue-collar, direct songs without any leanings or attempts to be anything else than what the tradition already is. The album is specifically for collector fans of old-school, no-tricks heavy metal bands that often labor out of the limelight of the mainstream metal music press. puresteel-records.com/bands/view/507/Blind_Cross