Blood From The Soul - DSM-5 (2020)

Blood From the Soul is the vision of legendary musician Shane Embury, longtime member of extreme pioneers Napalm Death. In the early 90's Embury partnered with Lou Koller (Sick Of It All) to create the Blood From The Soul debut "To Spite the Hand That Breeds" (Earache, 1993). The album was an experimental fusion of industrial, metal, hardcore, and punk. And along with Godflesh, Pitch Shifter, Meathook Seed, and Scorn, they helped spawn a new wave of industrial-metal.

Fast forward to 2020 and Blood From the Soul has awakened from hyper-sleep. Joining Embury on this new creative journey are now Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth, Soilwork, Aborted, Tronos), Jacob Bannon (Converge, Wear Your Wounds, Umbra Vitae), and Jesper Liveröd (Nasum, Burst).

"DSM-5" is a twelve song conceptual album from Blood From the Soul. Lyrically the album is written from the perspectives of human beings as well as sentient machines. Metaphorically it explores the relationship between consciousness and physical/psychological deterioration amid a multitude of stresses. Reading as both dystopian science fiction as well as poignant editorial on the turbulent present and our uncertain future.

Verbeuren's razor-sharp percussion propels the musical vessel as Embury and Liveröd's walls of strings and ambience infectiously build with imposing power. Vocally the material is vicious as they come with Bannon at the helm. Engineer Russ Russell (Napalm Death, At The Gates, The Haunted) also created soundscapes for the epic slo-burn closer "DSM-5", while John Cooke and Tom Dring (Venomous Concept, Corrupt Moral Altar) contributed additional ominous noise to this final transmission.