Napalm Death, Converge, etc members reactivate Blood From The Soul, share songRecent Metal Album Reviews

It was revealed earlier this year that Shane Embury (Napalm Death), J Bannon (Converge), Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth, ex-Soilwork), and Jesper Liveröd (of Nasum) were working on a new project together, and it turns out that project is a re-activated version of Blood From The Soul, the project Shane created with Sick Of It All's Lou Koller for the one-off 1993 album To Spite The Gland That Bleeds on Earache Records.

This new version of the band will release the album DSM-5 on November 13 via Deathwish (pre-order). It's a sci-fi concept album "written from the perspectives of human beings as well as sentient machines," and J Bannon -- the primary vocalist in this version of Blood From The Soul -- spoke to Forbes about it:

Shane approached me to work on the project with him, and I’ve known Shane in passing from touring over the last number of years, and we’ve stayed in touch with each other here and there. But the email kind of came out of the blue, I knew that he was working on bringing the project back to life at some point, and for the last couple of years there were some rumors about other musicians that he was trying to work on it with, so I thought he was already kind of going that route. So when I heard from him it was surprising and welcoming, and it just sounded like a really fun challenge to be honest.

I’m used to writing material in my other bands that’s rooted in life experience, I’ve never really tried to write anything that hasn’t been ‘non-fiction,’ for lack of a better terminology in terms of lyrics. This to me was an interesting challenge where I could write from a different perspective, and still put in my own life experiences and attach a variety of different metaphors that relate to today and contemporary society. It was a whole different animal and I was just like “yeah this sounds exciting, I’d love the opportunity and I’d love the challenge.”

So at that point, [Shane] sent me some demos and ideas and he told me who else he’d been talking to about working on the project with, and he already had Dirk [Verbeuren] from Megadeth lined up as the percussionist. The previous record, [To Spite the Gland That Breeds], was all drum machine so that was already pretty exciting to me because you have this monster drummer doing this, and I got in touch with Dirk to just get the feel for what everybody was looking for and put the challenge on.

Bannon also reminisced about the original Blood From The Soul album: "I remember I bought that record the day it came out... I was a young hardcore and metal kid, and just hearing about a project that was [Shane Embury] from Napalm Death and Lou [Koller] from Sick Of It All was a dream come true for teenage me." Read more at Forbes.

With Bannon fronting and a real-life drummer, DSM-5 is a much different beast than To Spite The Gland That Bleeds, less industrial and more metallic hardcore, as you can hear on the just-released lead single "Debris of Dreams." Listen below.

It's been a busy year for all four members of Blood From The Soul. Shane Embury recently released new albums with Napalm Death and Venomous Concept. J Bannon released the debut album by his new death metal band Umbra Vitae. Dirk Verbeuren also has a new band with a different Napalm Death member, Mitch Harris (Brave The Cold), and he's been releasing music his guest-filled solo grindcore project Bent Sea, including a song featuring Jesper Liveröd.

DSM-5 Tracklist
1. Fang Tooth Claw
2. Ascend the Spine
3. Calcified Youth
4. Debris of Dreams
5. Dismantle the Titan
6. Encephalon Escape
7. Subtle Fragment
8. Terminal Truth
9. Sharpened Heart
10. Self Deletion
11. Lurch of Loss
12. DSM-5

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