You know, I have a theory: Maniac Neil and Devin Townsend are distant blood relatives. Now hear me out on this. Both men are excellent writers that create addictive music. Both have 2 main bands currently that cover 2 different areas of the metal spectrum. Both are involved in a massive amount of other bands, both do their own production, and both have had some private goof balls recordings (Townsend with Ass-Sordid Demos and Neil with Maniac Killer). And both are extremely goofy. Yeah, what they make sound drastically different, but in the grand scheme of things there is a definite parallel between the two. Maniac Neil is extreme metal’s Devin Townsend!

Now that Maniac Neil has finally dropped the pretense that Blood Freak is a three-piece out of the late 80’s we can get on with crediting him for Blood Freak without having to do the tongue-in-cheek winking of the eye whenever we talk about Blood Freak. Live Fast, Die Young… and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse! follows up 2003’s Sleaze Merchants with a newly reinvigorated Blood Freak. Blood Freak’s fusion of old school death metal and psychedelic guitars is still present, but whereas Sleaze Merchants featured a sick, gloomy sound, this new record opens up with a fast-charged, upbeat approach that rips the listener’s face off faster than a hook in a Texas slaughterhouse. The tunes have the infectiousness of Neil’s other project Frightmare but still maintain the trademark psychedelic sound of Blood Freak. Blood Freak shreds and rides the goofy grind house train through more than half of the album and then hits a turning point. As "The Nameless Stench of Forgotten Celluloid" wails into the night Blood Freak hits the epoch of its sound so far: a slow, soulful, and ever dark death metal opus. From here the album resumes its speedy, ripping riffs but with a bit more of the dark tone from that slow opus. Maniac Neil’s multi-faceted vocal approach reigns supreme on this album, reminding me why I have him as one of my favorite death metal vocalists; the man sounds like several vocalists in one.

Live Fast, Die Young… and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse! is by far Blood Freak’s strongest album. It’s catchy, it’s moody, and it is as horrid and as goofy as a showing of Last House on Dead End Street at 2 am in an abandoned, run-down movie theater. Maniac Neil has another notch under his belt, and he shows a versatility that matches Devin Townsend’s.

Written By: Necro-tron