When obscurity takes its toll, we end up with releases like this one… BULLCREEK, that were four Dutchmen, who came together in 2016, recorded this album – no demo tape, no single – just this album, and were history again just one year later. The band has probably not gained any real recognition beyond their home region. So one might ask if a re-release of the record makes some sense at all? Especially in a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell physical sound recordings. Anyway, as so often: the one who buys it, decides if it’s worth to have it or not. “Osschaert“ gives us Death Metal, which is, in terms of song structure and sound quality, very reminiscent of the countless bands back in the nineties who toured relentlessly through all these leisure- and youth-centers of the world with this kind of a little tinny and hollow underground sound. However, what BULLCREEK deliver on their only album is by no means bad: they mix grumpy old school Death Metal with melodic guitar moments reminiscent of early AMON AMARTH here and there and pack a little blackened riffing, as well as atmospheric moments of Doom Metal, into songs like ‘The Serpent’s Egg’ or ‘Bullhead’. In this way, the four create a handful of songs that repeatedly exceed the six-minute mark and can even set accents with well-targeted breaks and tempo changes, like in ‘Dorset Ooser’ for example. The last track ‘The Monastery’, which features an additional female voice, is even over nine minutes long. An album by a band that jumps back and forth between a love of Doom Metal and a devotion to Death Metal, but despite some nice moments, they didn’t work out to write songs that got stuck in your head. In short: the one or other little hit is missing! Perhaps that is the reason, the band threw in the towel after just a year. We will never know. The re-release contains no extras. Simply the CD as it was also back in the days. Not even a sticker… www.facebook.com/bullcreekmetal, https://ironbloodanddeath.bandcamp.com

BULLCREEK is a quite unknown band from Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the Netherlands. Hopefully this will end in January 2017. Consisting of (ex -) members of Dutch bands like BURIAL, MORDANCY, MINDLINK and GOTMOOR, the involved guys are no newcomers at all and exactly know what they are doing. Freshly signed to growing label Raw Skull Recordz, the band’s debut is already a small concept album. BULLCREEK is the English translation for Stierkreek, a lake in the home area of the band members which seems to be haunted by a poltergeist / waterdemon called Osschaert, told in several local tales. The four guys play a very enjoyable and melodic mixture of Death and Doom Metal with deep but well dosed grunts, good instrumentation, proper drumming and a fine taste for songwriting and really good melodies. The seven long tracks have many influences starting with classic Death Metal like BOLT THROWER or HYPOCRISY on their “The Fourth Dimension” album or even GOREFEST during their “Erase” or “Soul Survivor” era (vocals and guitars) but also classic Heavy Metal when it comes to the fine leads and melodies and of course the fundament of the sound is mid 90s Doom / Death partly like BEYOND BELIEF but with a far more melodic approach like their dutch mates PHLEBOTOMIZED did it on “Skycontact”, an album I hated back then and years later rediscovered for me in its total quality. One thing worth to point out is that there are no weak tracks on this album which is definitely seldom nowadays on a debut release. “Osschaert” is a real little jewel which grows from spin to spin and even though Raw Skull Recordz had already some quite fine releases, this band and this album is really the highlight so far in the short label history. Fans of mid 90s Doom / Death or Gothic Death Metal, before it wimped out and suffered from female only fronted bands, should really check this small treasure out getting released the coming January. For more info, check the following sites: www.facebook.com/bullcreekmetal, www.rawskullrecordz.org