Adept
Blood Covenant
Napalm Records
After an extended period of radio silence Swedish metalcore combo Adept make a welcome return with their fifth studio album Blood Covenant. Making the near-decade gap between studio albums seem like a New York minute, Adept haven’t missed a beat and hit the ground running with the opening (and title) track. It’s a shotgun blast of a song that shows the band have lost none of their rage, only now it is delivered by older heads, inserting lighter passages with which to highlight the heavier. In fact, Blood Covenant finds Adept widening their palette to incorporate thrash and industrial elements, even veering into emo territory on ‘Time Is A Destroyer’. It makes this the most well-rounded album in the Adept discography and that is due in part to the production; bold as brass, it allows the band to get up close and personal, sounding as if they will burst from the speakers and attack the listener at any moment. As Adept gear up for a huge 20th anniversary tour, Blood Covenant suggests this will be no exercise in nostalgia, rather it’s a band returning to claim their crown. Blood Covenant proves Adept are peerless.
Review by Peter Dennis.