Maybe you have read the name Crack Up in one of the magazines (or fanzines) back in the mid- and end-90s, like I got acquainted with them with their second album ‘From the Ground’ which was released by Nuclear Blast in 1997. ‘Blood is Life’ is the debut album and was released a year prior to the aforementioned ‘From the Ground’, by a small German label called Corrosion. They just released 3 albums, among ‘Blood is Life’, the other two were from Maze of Torment and Moaning Wind. For some of you a “…oh yeah…that’s been a while”-moment for sure.
In the Nuclear Blast days Crack Up became a Death ‘n Roll band, the days of Entombed’s ‘To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth!’ and Gorefest’s ‘Soul Surviour’, but with ‘Blood is Life’ Crack Up sounds like a young band with twists and groove in their mostly mid-tempo Death Metal, yet the link with Gorefest and the Swedish scene is present. Sound- and music wise it is something you can expect from the European Death Metal scene in 1996, as it is still Death Metal but with a less dirty sound and trying walk on new paths to be at least slightly different than the Death Metal that was released between 1988 and 1994.
As an extra the 1994 demo ‘Forsaken Dreams’ is included in this re-release, of which can be said the same. And although it doesn’t stand out when you hear it nowadays, it does sounds typical and familiar.
Although this album does bring you back to that certain period of time, I don’t consider it as a underrated gem or forgotten masterpiece that has to be in your collection.
