Reviewed by Greg Sammons

Pacto de Sangre (which translates as Blood Covenant) hail from Puerto Rico, where they claim to be the number one Christian metal band. Considering I've never heard any other Puerto Rican metal, I really don't know how high an accolade that is! Another unknown is, that due to the fact that the majority of their songs are in Spanish, I don't entirely know what they are singing about. With a few quick guesses and translations I can tell you that it's all from an overtly Christian standpoint. On this album there are only two English speaking tracks but I'm told their next album, which is out later this year, will be mainly sung in English. I guess that is what needs to be done to appeal to a wider audience, and now with distribution across North America it's probably a wise move. The music itself will appeal to fans of pioneering Christian metal from the late '80s and early '90s, which explains why they've managed to share stages with bands such as Bride and Bloodgood; a testament both to their quality and their reputation but moreover a good indicator of who this band would appeal to. In today's marketplace, this band would probably seem "dated" to modern rock buffs. But to the right audience their reputation will deservedly continue to grow.
7/10
Greg Sammons

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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