Search - Bloodrock :: Bloodrock

Blood Red Greasy Grungy Seventies Underbelly

Thaddeus B. Rosemyer | Massena, NY USA | 01/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a ballsy, no-nonsense hard rockin' outfit from the USA. Watch for some deft, complicated moves in their heaviness, though. Good headphone music, for sure. I advise anything they put out as long as is has Jim Rutledge on vocals. Some of the later stuff isn't as strong w/o him. File along side Black Oak, Grand Funk, BOC, Nitzinger, Amboy Dukes, & any Monster Records bands (Full Moon, Amulet, Winterhawk, etc)."

Rock on Bloodrock

B. E Jackson | Pennsylvania | 06/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even though Bloodrock never really had any popularity across the United States, I feel they are a very worthwhile hard rock band and they deserve to be remembered.



I received the first two Bloodrock albums as a Christmas present back in 2002. Funny story- my dad and his girlfriend went to a music shop looking for Bloodrock, and a guy working there said to them "You will NEVER find any Bloodrock, ever". Luckily a store DID in fact have the first two albums available, or else my Christmas wouldn't have been complete!



So, what does Bloodrock sound like? Well, you can imagine that because it's early 70's rock, there's a blues influence, and a Zeppelin influence as well. When it comes to how HEAVY the music is, I'd say it's somewhere in between Cream and Black Sabbath. Much heavier than Cream's "Politician" but not as heavy as the song "Black Sabbath" or "Iron Man". Maybe that's why Bloodrock never caught on- they were doomed to be stuck in between two great artists.



Anyway, this is hard rock at its finest. It's not a flawless album, however. Mainly because the band just didn't know when to stop playing. The first song is a perfect example. "Gotta Find a Way" with a catchy chorus and solid guitar playing and keyboards, is just a couple minutes overlong. At the end of the song, the chorus repeats over and over. It should have been trimmed a couple minutes.



"Castle of Thoughts" is a great little pop song. You can tell it was influenced by Cream. "Fatback" is pretty good too. It has a certain mellow vibe flowing throughout the song, very familiar to anyone who grew up in the 70's. Good lyrics too.



"Double Cross" and "Gimmie Your Head" are more great pop songs. Very catchy, very good. "Timepiece" is a perfect example of a hard rock song from the classic years. Memorable vocals, and I especially like the part when the guitars and keyboards go back and forth, jamming between the two instruments. That's actually a really special moment in the song. "Wicked Truth" reminds me of the Partridge Family for some reason, and Donald Duck makes an appearance near the end. I kid you not!



"Fantastic Piece of Architecture" is WAY too long. If the band chose to trim it down 4 minutes, it would have been perfect. It's a really eerie and quiet song, with vocals that might remind you of going to church. "Melvin Laid an Egg" has a really heavy guitar riff that's really not that different from Sabbath's "Iron Man". I love the way the song was written too. In fact, I'm convinced the song was influenced for Sabbath's "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath" song because of the way the tune goes back and forth between a mellow piano vocal melody and a heavy guitar riff and melody. Black Sabbath did the same thing but with an acoustic guitar instead of piano.



I also want to mention that the album features quality and melodic guitar soloing in nearly every song. Solid hard rock."

One of my top 100 albums of all time

May 4, 1970 | N.E. Ohio | 03/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If I had a time machine I would set it for Spring of 1970 and hop in for a journey back in time. I had just finished playing in the finals of the Ohio State Basketball Tournament vs. Cincinnati Lincoln Heights and lost 62-60 in one of the most exciting finals ever; I lived the movie Hoosiers, except that we lost to a much larger school. Anyways, a month or so later, the National Guard of Ohio murdered four students at Kent State University without cause. That occurance and the changing music of the early 70's gave me a whole new outlook on my life and the US Government, Viet Nam, protests, Democratic Convention, etc. To me, this is one of those life changing albums, and to this day, find it as being an outstanding example of not only well played semi-hard rock, but as an exemplary sound of those changing times related to the War and young protesters and the "new sound" in music. I became anti-everything with this music (and other things), walking away from college basketball and becoming a Hippie-type, moving to Phoenix, AZ. and working in an Adult Movie House ( The Paris Theater ); man did I change; and as it turns out, probably for the worse. I blew a lot of opportunities indeed, but I do not regret most of the choices that I made at that time. But Bloodrock-Bloodrock is great statement of the music for my times of change, for sure. I cannot think of anybody who would not like their music; give it a try; highly recommended. DC"