Blood Dynasty

 

Blood Dynasty was released in 2025

Track Listing:

1. Dream Stealer

2. Illuminate the Path

3. March of the Miscreants

4. A Million Suns

5. Don't Look Down

6. Presage

7. Blood Dynasty

8. Paper Tiger

9. Vivre Libre (Blaspheme cover)

10. The Pendulum

11. Liars & Thieves

Genre: Melodic death metal

After Gossow left to be just the bands manager, they hired Alissa White-Gluz to fill her shoes.  Her first War Eternal was excellent, the band felt rejuvenated.  Then they put out Will to Power which sucked, Deceivers which was decent but played it very safe.  Finally they put out Blood Dynasty, their last with White-Gluz.  

Overall White-Gluz feels like a discount Gossow.  She can hit the notes but doesn't have the same feel.  She can do cleans better but I think it was a slight downgrade.

I bought Blood Dynasty because Deceivers was pretty good (I didn't listen to War Eternal or Will to Power until later) and they had some stupid blood filled version.  Seriously,  check out how cool this one is: 

Totally worth it.  Anyways, on to the music

Dream Stealer - A bit jarring jumping from Rise of the Tyrant to this one, so much more bass in the mix.  Still pretty standard Arch Enemy.  This time with more cleans, which works well in their chorus.  Solid opener

Illuminate the Path - This is like standard rock song pace.  Not bad, if a little formulaic. Weird to see them get so radio rock.

March of the Miscreants - The verse isn't great.  Just kind of forgettable.  The chorus is pretty good, but still a pretty forgettable song.  The solo build up is real good though.  Not a fan of the All Hail chant.  Kind of dumb

A Million Suns - This one is still pretty same-y but the verse chugging is great and the chorus is solid.

Don't Look Down - That intro is excellent.  Fun riff.  The verse is less good, but still solid.  Another middle of the road song

Presage - Instrumental, nothing too unique here, a short acoustic break

Blood Dynasty - Title track and one of the more memorable songs on the album.  That intro riff into the verse is great, good chorus and a cool solo.

Paper Tiger - I think they try a few new things here and I think they fall flat.  The high pitch Yeah! is bad, the galloping verse is okay.  The chorus is good, but I dont think it saves them.  This feels like a dressed up hair metal song

Vivre Libre - I've never heard the original but I really like this cover.  Weird choice in songs, but a fun one.  This ruffled some fan feathers but if they're mad about Arch Enemy doing a cover outside the normal genres then they haven't been paying attention.

The Pendulum - Another mediocre song.  Nothing special here. Even the solo here is just meh.  

Liars & Thieves - A decent ending.  Strong song, good riffs and solid solo.  Not great but good

Overall this was a pretty good album.  Not quite as good as Deceivers, but not bad.  The White-Gluz albums are hit or miss and I think this is more hit versus miss.  Her cleans are a good addition, but the screams are too "perfect" if that makes sense.  A lot of modern bands use the same exact technique to get screams and they sound good, but just generic.  I get it, its good for longevity, but they're just less interesting.

4 green and 1 red, a decent album and a decent send-off for White-Gluz (who is now in Dragonfoce? Who saw that coming).

3.5/5