Bloodgood

Item: Rock in a Hard Place
Author: Daniel Baillod

Rock in a Hard Place

(1988)

Reviewed by Daniel Baillod

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Label Frontline RecordsAdonai Metal Rock #3July 1989

glam metal hard rock melodic metal pop metal

Translated from the original French

Metamorphosis... Yeah, metamorphosis!! What a difference between "Detonation" and "Rock In A Hard Place"!!... But where has BLOODGOOD gone, the real one?? Where are the excellent "Battle Of The Flesh", "Self Destruction" and the rest of the "Crucify"s...? Vanished... All vanished!! BLOODGOOD, with this third album, changes course and offers us a melodic hard rock that no longer has much in common with "Detonation". True, they have an excellent sound, nice and clear, nice and clean, and that thanks to Terry B. SHELTON... But the acoustic guitars ("The Presence" is a glaring example of it) and the keyboards (yeah, BLOODGOOD even dabbles in keyboards...! "Seven"...) largely take over on this album. On "Rock In A Hard Place", there is no more properly heavy, properly fast heavy... Simply tracks that are fairly rock ("Shakin'It", "Do Or Die"). "Never Be The Same" is a good hit, well built, nicely melodic, with a very catchy chorus: sorry, but I cannot stop myself thinking of STRYPER's "Calling On You". The majority of the tracks are cool ("What Have I Done", "She's Gone", "The World", "Seven"...). The heaviest track, and at the same time the closest to the real BLOODGOOD, is "Heaven On Earth".

As for the guys in BLOODGOOD, it is a metamorphosis there too. Les CARLSEN has forgotten his hollering from "Detonation", and stays well behaved all the way through "Rock In A Hard Place": of course Les CARLSEN will never be a hard FM singer, since his vocals are raspy, and properly heavy. But on this third LP, one notices that Les has done everything to soften his vocals... Good work on several tracks: "Never Be The Same", "What Have I Done", "Seven", "The World"... The guitarist still works in finesse, but this time with more melody and more gentleness: David ZAFFIRO uses a lot of acoustic guitar: every track on the album gets some, except "Shakin'It", "Do Or Die" and "Seven". Some of his riffs are still aggressive ("Do or Die", "Heaven On Earth"), but we are a long way from "Black Snake", "Battle Of The Flesh" and "Crucify"...!! On the bass side, Michael BLOODGOOD has also calmed down, and his bass playing is far less impressive, except on "Shakin'It", "Heaven On Earth" and (above all) "Seven". As for Mark WELLING, he really gives the impression of being, in spite of himself, limited in his playing. Whereas on "Detonation" Mark was having a whale of a time (particularly on "Self Destruction" and on "Vagrant People"), here, on "Rock In A Hard Place", he confines himself to simple and fairly run-of-the-mill work on the whole... and this in spite of himself, no doubt...! Certainly he executes his playing with exactness and precision, but his extraordinary technique, remarkable on "Detonation" (and which made him the number 2 of Christian hard drummers), is absolutely not in evidence here. A pity.

The most shocking thing on a first listen to this third LP is the entry of the keyboards... And what is more, not a very discreet entry...! "She's Gone" and above all "Seven": the latter has an outright intro (about 1 min) on piano/synths. It is surprising to hear Les CARLSEN singing over a piano... But make no mistake: melodic hard suits them like a glove. But for those who were in love with the "real" BLOODGOOD, "Rock In A Hard Place" is, if not a disappointment, at all events a surprise... BLOODGOOD remains and will remain an excellent band, even if the musical direction is not necessarily the one we would wish for them. Besides, everyone who saw BLOODGOOD on stage during their "Rock In A Hard Place" tour (and I am one of them!) agrees that live, the tracks from this third LP are far heavier, especially as they stand alongside monuments such as "Battle Of The Flesh", "Crucify/The Messiah" and others like "Live Wire"... Imagine on top of that a top-level choreography, and you will understand that BLOODGOOD remains and continues to be one of the greatest Christian metal bands. A pity about "Rock In A Hard Place": this change of direction is perhaps behind what has happened inside BLOODGOOD recently... But they had warned us: "If we have to become gentler in our music, in order to illustrate the heart of God, we will do it" David ZAFFIRO had cautioned, during their "Detonation Tour"... Their goal stays the same (the lyrics prove it), and BLOODGOOD will pursue its metallic mission, in whatever form that may be (FM or heavy). God loves'em!