Bloodbound is a Swedish

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band formed in 2004 in

Bollnäs Bollnäs () is a Swedish locality and the seat of Bollnäs Municipality, in Gävleborg County, Sweden. It had 26,937 inhabitants in 2017 History The first recording of Bollnäs in writing is from 1312 when a vicar named Ingemund referred to it ...

History

They released their first studio album, ''Nosferatu'', in 2005 and their second, ''Book of the Dead'', in May 2007. The brainchild of former Street Talk members

Fredrik Bergh Fredrik Bergh (born 22 April 1975) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. Bergh, a doubles specialist, appeared in five Grand Slam tournaments. He partnered Peter Nyborg in four of them and the pair never failed to make it past the ...

and Tomas Olsson, the band has also included Michael Bormann (Jaded Heart),

Urban Breed Urban Breed (often written with a lowercase "breed") is a Swedish singer. He is the former vocalist for Project Arcadia Bloodbound, Serious Black, Tad Morose, and Trail of Murder. Urban's style and voice have been described as similar to Ronn ...

( Tad Morose) and Pelle Åkerlind (

Morgana Lefay Morgana Lefay (known as Damage from 1986 until 1989) is a Swedish power/thrash metal band from Bollnäs. It is named after Morgan Le Fay of the Arthurian cycle. History Morgana Lefay independently released their first album, ''Symphony of t ...

). Their debut album ''Nosferatu'' featured former Tad Morose singer Urban Breed on vocals. Released on 16 December 2005 (in Japan; European release date 24 February 2006), ''Nosferatu'' features artwork by

Mark Wilkinson Mark Wilkinson (born 3 October 1952) is an English illustrator. He is best known for the detailed surrealistic cover art he created for a number of British bands. Wilkinson's breakthrough came through his association with the neo-progressive r ...

(

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

Marillion Marillion are a British rock music, rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becomin ...

) and received an early rave review from the Swedish rock magazine ''Power Play''. Based solely on the strength of their debut album, the band opened for

Evergrey Evergrey is a Swedish progressive metal band from Gothenburg. History Evergrey was formed in 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden as a progressive power metal band, in contrast to the melodic death metal that Gothenburg is known for. Since then, the band ...

and headlined day one of the Gothenburg Metal Festival. After Urban Breed announced his departure from Bloodbound in fall 2006, former Tad Morose singer Kristian Andrèn briefly joined the band for some live dates. In March 2007, they announced their new singer, German

Michael Bormann Michael Bormann is a German singer. He was a founding and longtime member of the hard rock band Jaded Heart. He has been involved with several other groups as their lead vocalist, having accepted contracts to record his vocals on albums rather ...

, who laid down vocals on the band's second album ''Book of the Dead''. Bormann, however, played no live shows with Bloodbound; for their first performance after releasing ''Book of the Dead'' (June 2007 at

Sweden Rock Festival The Sweden Rock Festival is an annual rock/metal festival held in Sweden since 6 June 1992. While having a clear rock/metal focus, the festival is noted for its diversity across these genres, from southern rock bands such as Molly Hatchet to de ...

), Urban Breed handled the vocal duties. Urban also performed with the band at subsequent shows, including Bollnäs Festivalen in July 2007. Bloodbound played two sets, both backed up by a symphony orchestra. For the second set, they backed

Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews (born 17 May 1958), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, is a British/Brazilian heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno has issued numerous albu ...

of Iron Maiden fame. In October 2007, they announced that original singer Urban Breed had officially re-joined and would sing during the band's tour in support of

HammerFall HammerFall is a Swedish power metal band from Gothenburg. The band was formed in 1993 by ex-Ceremonial Oath guitarist Oscar Dronjak. History Early days (1993–1996) HammerFall was formed when rhythm guitarist Oscar Dronjak quit Ceremonial ...

. In 2009, the band signed a deal with the label Blistering Records for their third album release, titled ''Tabula Rasa''. The album was set for release in April 2009. In April 2010, Breed announced on his forum that Bloodbound had decided to continue with another singer, ending his second tenure with the band. They had recruited Patrik Selleby (back then known as Patrik Johansson), from the band Dawn of Silence. Despite the band's apparent

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

image (the band members have worn make-up in the "

corpse paint Corpse paint is a style of black and white makeup used mainly by black metal bands for concerts and band photos. The makeup is used to make the musicians appear inhuman, corpse-like, or demonic, and is perhaps "the most identifiable aspect of the ...

" style in the promotional photos on their albums and website and during some live shows), Bloodbound's music does not fit into the black metal category. Instead, it is more similar in style to heavy metal bands such as

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...

and Iron Maiden, although the lyrics sometimes approach darker subjects. ''Stormborn'' (2014) marked a thematic shift of the band's lyrics into more medieval fantasy topics, with numerous references to the popular TV series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

''. From ''War of Dragons'' (2017), the lyrical themes have departed completely into medieval fantasy themes, with a particular emphasis on dragons and keeping up with the references to ''Game of Thrones'', which are carried on in the following album ''Rise of the Dragon Empire'' (2019).

Members

Present

* Patrik Selleby – lead vocals * Tomas Olsson – lead and rhythm guitars *

– keyboards, backing vocals * Henrik Olsson – rhythm guitars * Anders Broman – bass * Daniel Sjögren – drums

Former

– lead vocals * Oskar Belin – drums, percussion * Jörgen "Poe" Andersson – bass * Markus Albertson – guitars * Kristian Andrèn – lead vocals *

– lead vocals * Johan Sohlberg – bass * Pelle Åkerlind – drums, percussion

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums *''Nosferatu'' (2005) *''Book of the Dead'' (2007) *''Tabula Rasa'' (2009) *''Unholy Cross'' (2011) *''In the Name of Metal'' (2012) *''Stormborn'' (2014) *''War of Dragons'' (2017) *''Rise of the Dragon Empire'' (2019) *''Creatures of the Dark Realm'' (2021) *''Tales from the North'' (2023) Live albums *''One Night of Blood: Live at Masters of Rock MMXV'' (2016) Music videos * "In the Name of Metal" (2012) * "Stormborn" (2014) * "Moria" (Live) (2016) * "Metal Monster" (Live) (2016) * "Battle in the Sky" (2017) * "Rise of the Dragon Empire" (2019) * "Creatures of the Dark Realm" (2021)

References

External links

Unofficial fan website
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 2004 Swedish power metal musical groups