01. Sign Of The Devil
02. The Tempter
03. Book Of The Dead
04. Bless The Unholy
05. Lord Of Battle
06. Flames Of Purgatory
07. Into Eternity
08. Black Heart
09. Black Shadows
10. Turn To Stone
11. Seven Angels
12. Rivers Of Pain [Japanese bonus]
13. Bonus Video [European bonus]

This year, one of the best surprises of 2006 is back with a new album. The Swedish dudes of Bloodbound finally release their second album "Book Of The Dead" but you have to know that it's a different band. A lot the members has left the band, especially Urban Breed which was replaced by Michael Bormann at the beginning of the year. We're still in front of a real band of Heavy Metal but well, it's a bit different now.

On a side, "Book Of The Dead" is a really good album of Heavy. The band knew how to produce something which sounds like the previous album. "Nosferatu" was a real killer, one of the best albums of the year 2006 and "Book Of The Dead" follows this road. The music is still a mix of Heavy Metal a la Maiden with Power a la Helloween. The riffs and rhythms are still extremely catchy, the choruses are still pure "sing a long" ones, so really if you like great classic Heavy this is a must for you. But on the other hand, we have some radical changes on this release and the bigger one is the singer. Michael Bormann is a great singer, and his hoarsy vocals are really original though I have to say that some of you will probably be really disturbed by his performance. It's probably a matter of taste but I think that the voice of Urban Breed fits better to the music of Bloodbound. Urban is a real singer of Heavy, Michael is better for Hard Rock in my opinion. But I say it again, it's a matter of taste really?

"Book Of The Dead" features eleven great songs of Heavy and its production is perfect. One more time, the guys of Bloodbound prove that they're among the best musicians of the Heavy metal scene. It's hard to find anything bad on this release, it's catchy, the songs work and the only real problem with this release is its real difference with the previous album of the combo. Honestly at the first listening it was really chocking for me but with time it will be ok I think so be patient with this new release please.

"Book Of The Dead" is not better than "Nosferatu" but it's a real confirmation. If you like the first release of the band and if you're not afraid by the voice of Michael Bormann I'm sure that you'll enjoy a lot this new release. But try it first please because it's different really.

Performance:	8
Songwriting:	8
Originality:	7
Production:	9