Cygnus Rock Band - It Rained Blood (Death And Glory)

This song by far is the hardest, most aggressive Cygnus Rock Band song that was ever written. Hands down. Heavier than Lady Hél - that song, despite its rawness is a glorifying prayer, a song with a special structure

(I still won't tell details about it, keep listening and find out)

while "It Rained Blood" kicks your head off right in the beginning. Our Colombian rockers don't play it easy, the opening of the song gives the tone of the entire track, hitting the listener right in the stomach. 

I personally admit, I loved the aggressivity and harshness of this song, the distorted guitars, the heavy drums, Ruxx's powerful singing and above all the chorus. I remember

("back in my time" section starts, fasten your seatbelts)

in the early 90's I listened to a lot of music like this. As I mentioned in the album review, in my mother tongue this sort of music was called "technical thrash metal" or "technical death metal". This simply referred to those bands where the musicians actually could play their instruments instead of just making noise, they had creative ideas, not just scrubbing their guitars and they in fact did a lot for the sub-genre to stay alive and make memorable songs and albums. Some also called it "Bay Area thrash"

(Yes, I know that Bay Area thrash was more of a 80's thing, but until the collapse of Communism we haven't even heard about the term over here. Similarly, many bands got to be known in this insignificant country only after 1990. Testament, Overkill, Exodus, even Metallica and Megadeth had the chance to sneak massively into our lives in the 90's. Better later than never.)

and these bands were not just very very popular among metalheads here, not just a lot of young bands wanted to walk their path or even copy their style, but the members of these bands were our heroes. Alex Skolnick, Steve DiGiorgio (a mfkin legend!!!), Gene Hoglan, Dave Mustaine, all members of Metallica and Slayer all were role models and they still are for many.

And then came Cygnus Rock Band and with this song they kicked me back to this period.

And how happy I was!!!

They didn't just bring back a LOT of memories with this song. They also crossed their own boundaries, they tried out something new - and again I can say that I really hope this wasn't the last time for such a heavy piece and they will make more songs like this. Since I'm aware (from my memories) how much skill, talent, detail-orientedness, concentration and creativity it requires from musicians to put together a song like this, it's also a crystal clear proof for me how much they improved as musicians as well as human beings. Absolutely refined, still hard and sharp guitar tunes appear as well as tempo switches and Ruxx's very heavy, powerful drumming.

Again you can hear him mastering new techniques he hadn't demonstrated on earlier Cygnus albums - and again I can say that I really, really hope he will do it much more in the future!

The lyrics also follow the traditions of old school thrash and death metal songs, describing the horrors and blood of a Viking battle. They don't keep away from naturalistic details as well ("crush skulls, break bones or sever a limb/sprays and mists of blood begin").

The chorus is another piece of very serious and hard work by everyone's favorite Colombian Vikings. Ruxx does his trademark legatos there, but this time don't expect something like in this cover. These legatos are more subtle, you might not even hear it immediately. Yet Ruxx again proves how much he improved, because these legatos are none less difficult (especially for someone with a powerful tenor like him) than those in an aria. So now stand up and pay respect for Ruxx. 

Tall, proud, your hand on your heart, for one minute. Yes, in traffic jam, too. If you drive AND read at the same time, then as a punishment you need to stop your vehicle right where you are, and stand on the roadside for FIVE MINUTES tall and proud. Even if you are "in a hurry". No, my friend, for paying respect to Ruxx or Deneb NOBODY is in a hurry. Ever. Remember this.

And then enters Deneb.

Yes, it's him. That guttural, horror vocal. It's from our favorite bass player. Yes, this rocker, who has such a mellow, warm voice full of emotions, who is sometimes just whispering into the microphone bringing tears to your eyes, whose singing, like a warm blanket makes you soften up and smile even on a dark, gloomy, depressive day. This wonderful bard follows the rugged path of Chris Barnes, John Tardy and David Vincent and spits up such a gore from his golden throat that makes even the Uruk-hai hordes of Isengard salute to him.

You also salute to him.

NOW.

The presence of string instruments interestingly doesn't ease up the tension of the chorus, on the contrary they highlight the rawness of it with their beautifully composed sounds. It was - still is - again something I love in this song, this play of contrasts in the chorus, the legatos by Ruxx, the contrast between his voice and Deneb's guttural vocals and this, the orchestra vs. the distorted guitars and heavy drums.

And it's still not everything.

Then come the two solos. Yes, because this song is so huge, so enormous that it contains TWO solos. The first one is played by Deneb - and he doesn't play only the first solo, but he plays ALL the guitars in this song. ALL of them. ALL the distorted, heavy, raw guitars. AND the bass. AND he sings like that. AND he did the orchestration. Have you ever given any thought about what an AMAZINGLY talented and versatile artist he is?

Yes, I was sure you haven't 😒

The second solo is played by Andrés F. Bernal. You can hear it if you open your ears just a little bit. He has his very special style that makes him who he is; his trademark virtuoso tricks can be recognized. And simply put, he is one of the most talented guitarists the South American continent carries on itself.

Mark my words and remember them.