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Draft:Nosferatu (Bloodbound album)

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Nosferatu
Studio album by
Released16 December 2005
GenreHeavy metal
Length52:51
LabelAvalon
ProducerFredrik Bergh, Tomas Olsson

Nosferatu is the first studio album by Bloodbound, released on 16 December 2005 in Japan and on 24 February 2006 in Europe. It tells the story of a man's quest to combat Nosferatu: a demon who is the face of the devil.[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Metal Crypt [2]
Zware MetalenNegative [3]
Metal Storm8.6/10 [4]

Tracks

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No.TitleLength
1."Behind the Moon"6:27
2."Into the Dark"4:31
3."Nosferatu"6:23
4."Metal Monster"4:24
5."Crucified"3:50
6."Desdemonamelia"4:14
7."Fallen from Grace"4:45
8."Screams in the Night"4:40
9."For the King"3:49
10."Midnight Sun"3:51
11."On the Battlefield"5:57
Total length:52:51

Personnel

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Bloodbound

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Guest musicians

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  • Thunder sound at the beginning of Nosferatu.
    Richard Humphries[5] - Thunder sound effect in "Nosferatu".
  • Fredrik Lundberg - Backing vocals.
  • Sofia Westlin - Backing vocals.
  • Daniel Jonsson - Backing vocals.

Other contributors

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Lyrics

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The album has a story to it as well, as Olsson said in an interview.[1]

"We follow one man on his quest to fight the evil demon Nosferatu (the face of the devil) and restore the balance between good and evil, light and dark, heaven and hell…"

Behind the Moon

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This is the first song of the album and also starts of the overarching narrative. It does so with a message from behind the moon. There he gets told that the sunlight has important powers that can be used to fight Nosferatu. He also feels true fear for the first time, something he will never forget. The interview also mentions that "only the prophet can predict his path.", yet this does not appear in the song itself.

Into the Dark

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Into the Dark shows to the hero someone who was manipulated into an unspeakable act. He in fact so far gone that he doesn't think he can climb out of the darkness anymore and falls into denial. This never ending descend into the dark teaches the hero to be extra careful before committing atrocities.

Nosferatu

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The protagonist somehow ends up in front of the gates of hell, there he sees Nosferatu performing a ritual. He gets seen by the demon, then Olsson says "the demon (...) unleashes the hellhounds" , yet again these are not mentioned in the lyrics. This glimpse of the demon is also said to stay with him forever.

Metal Monster

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At the start of the song, the hero was at a deep low. He was about to surrender, until the metal monster came to him. She saved him, but this is implied to only be a one-time thing.

Crucified

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Here the prophet from Behind the Moon finally appeared. She says that the only way to learn about "the meaning of pure sacrifice", and that is to get crucified. So the Devil returns to earth to inflict the curse of crucifixion on him. He spends a whole week on the cross, which has as effect that all demons are banished from his mind. He recovered, but betrayal is implied to come soon.

Desdemonamelia

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The hero is still weakened, so he decides to ask the visionary on what to do. Tragically that visionary is Amelia, the daughter of Nosferatu. He spots her by her tail, but it is too late. The visionary stole his vision and he can only barely get away.

Fallen from Grace

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In his escape he ends up in hell, he searches for anything to save him for multiple days. Just as he is about to die due to dehydration he finds the forbidden well, he drinks from it as he cannot recognize it (even though he recovered from blindness). This traps his soul at the sea floor. Nosferatu is there in spirit and attempts to take over his brain.

Screams in the Night

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Nosferatu's attempt seems successful: the hero ventures out to a nearby settlement, cloaked by the night he kidnaps all the children. As he returns to hell with them, his control over his blood-thirst slips and he chops up all the children with his knife.

For the King

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Nosferatu pulls his newly made companion closer to him by employing him into his legion. There he commits more unspeakable acts, as with his soul trapped at the sea floor and his heart shriveled up, Nosferatu can take full control over him.

Midnight Sun

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Nosferatu has prepared a grand finale for him: he must reclaim the lands lost to the midnight sun. He accepts this mission and ventures towards the arctic circle. Luckily the midnight sun is so powerful that it instantly cleanses the darkness out of the hero and he decides to go face Nosferatu.

On the Battlefield

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They finally meet face-to-face on the battlefield. There are only two outcomes for our hero: heaven or hell. He decides to fight for all he has, so he may repent and enter heaven in the end. This battle is, and will be, the greatest, bloodiest battle ever faced. The hero seems to take the crown and kill Nosferatu "in the name of the son".

Critical reception

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The album got very mixed reviews on one side, Dutch Heavy metal outlet Zware Metalen argued that is was not original enough, and that it sounded too similar to Iron Maiden.[3] On the other hand, The Metal Crypt rated the album a 4.5 out of 5, calling the works an "homage to metal history".[2] And an admin-published review on Metal Storm agrees that in sounds alike Iron Maiden, but also says that Bloodbound isn't an Iron Maiden knock-off, but merely in the same sub-genre.[4]

Online interest

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The album has been streamed many times on online platforms. As of February 2024, these are the numbers. Do note that on YouTube streams (views) are not public in full precision. They are visible only two to three significant figures. And many unofficial versions exist on YouTube, too. These have not been counted.

Streams of Nosferatu ­— Bloodbound (February 2024)
Spotify[6] YouTube[7] Total
Behind the Moon 1,142,307 477,000 1,619,307
Into the Dark 379,073 135,000 514,073
Nosferatu 9,155,643 2,600,000 11,755,643
Metal Monster 620,564 196,000 816,564
Crucified 310,001 111,000 421,001
Desdemonamelia 230,512 68,000 298,512
Fallen from Grace 331,286 73,000 404,286
Screams in the Night 513,940 270,000 783,940
For the King 1,417,517 271,000 1,688,517
Midnight Sun 204,578 58,000 262,578
On the Battlefield 210,526 181,000 391,526
Total 14,311,369 4,440,000 18,751,369

References

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  1. ^ a b Olsson, Tomas (2006). "Tomas Olsson comments on each song on the album Nosferatu (2006)". www.metalcovenant.com. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  2. ^ a b (Unknown), Bruce (18 December 2007). "The Metal Crypt - Review of Bloodbound - Nosferatu". www.metalcrypt.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  3. ^ a b van Peer, Kees (22 April 2006). "Bloodbound - Nosferatu". Zware Metalen (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  4. ^ a b (Unknown), Jeff (December 2005). "Bloodbound - Nosferatu review". Metal Storm. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  5. ^ "About Us". Takoma Media. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  6. ^ Nosferatu, 2006-01-31, retrieved 2024-08-02
  7. ^ "Nosferatu". YouTube. Retrieved 2024-08-02.