Forgotten Gems: Blood Farmers-Blood Farmers

Hellhound Records
1995


Very few doom acts affect me like Blood Farmers. As I'm not the most vocal fan of doom to begin with (I usually leave that flag waving to Metal Mark) there has to be a really good sticking point if I'm to be sold on a band, Now, The Blood Farmers (or just Blood Farmers) were from New York City, New York and formed back in 1989. Are they back together now or broke up again? I'll get that point out of the way and say, for the record, I don't quite honestly know. Seeing as I haven't had my second cup of coffee yet (and I need at least two cups or else I'm likely to straggle random strangers who annoy me) my brain isn't quite running full-steam ahead and, frankly, it's a moot point in regards to the epic quality of this self-titled little gem. Influenced by the likes of Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, St. Vitus and Blue Oyster Cult (as well as plenty of other 70’s influences) this (at the time) four-piece outfit released an album that is heavy on the doom metal while indulging in stoner rock and psychedelic rock. Words alone cannot describe the musical madness of this masterpiece (yes, that is a lot of "M" words), but one listen to this album and I'd wager that most doom fans would certainly drool with appreciation. Taking their name from the cult movie "Invasion Of The Blood Farmers" (which, believe it or not I have in my film collection) the band's debut album (and only album) featured cover-artwork taken from the Ed Gein movie "Deranged". One of the album's cuts, the excellent "Bullet in My Head", appeared on the soundtrack for Richard Anasky’s film "I am Vengeance", but every cut is equally impressive. After being exposed to tracks like "Orgy of the Rats", "General Urko" (which is the name of a gorilla General from the 1975 Planet Of The Apes TV series), "Twisted Brain (Part 2)" and the beautiful acoustic number "After the Harvest" (which almost sounds like a Led Zeppelin tune) my life has never been the same. Easily one of the best doom metal bands that you've never heard of and simply a head rush of an album, "Blood Farmers" fetches serious $$$ these days on CD so if your looking for this little nugget (and if you call yourself a doom metal fan then you need this one in your collection trust me!) just do a quick Google search. It's floating around the net waiting for it's next victim to have it's soul removed via the twisted doom groove that is Blood Farmers.