Bombarder - Ima li zibota prije smrti

Bombarder
Ima li zibota prije smrti
2010 Metal Warning
The release of this album came as a total shock to me. "Ledena Krv" was released all the way back in 2003, and having not seen anything else from them over the last eight years (I didn't know of this album until this year), I had figured they had broken up and were done. Obviously, that's not the case. Originally, the band was based in what used to be Yugoslavia, but vocalist Nenad Kovaèeviæ has since moved to Serbia, and I think gathered a new lineup there. "Ima li zibota prije smrti" or "Is There Life Before Death" is a bit of a departure from their previous releases. What I've heard in the past was pure speed metal. On this album though, they've mixed in quite a bit of regular heavy metal. It makes for a slightly different flavor, but not one that will piss off their fans. All of the songs are in their native tongue. Personally, I don't think that's a big deal. Having been exposed to a plethora of "Norwegian weather reports" in the early 1990s, I'm more or less immune to the concept that "metal must be in English." Most of the time, if a band chooses to write their songs in their native language, it ends up being a good thing. Translated versions just never work out right. Still, it is a little odd that even the cover of Nifelheim's "Sodomizer" has been translated. On the subject of that cover version, let me just say that while Bombarder's version is good, Nifelheim's is infinitely superior. Bombarder keep things way too calm, while Nifelheim sounded like the whole thing was going to either collapse or blow up in their faces at any second. Regardless of all that, it's great that Bombarder are still around, and that they've given us this new album to enjoy.