Draft:Nosferatu (Bloodbound album)

Nosferatu is the first studio album by Bloodbound, released on 16 December 2005 in Japan and on 24 February 2006 in Europe. It tells the story of a man's quest to combat Nosferatu: a demon who is the face of the devil.

Bloodbound

 * Thomas Olsson - Guitars, producer, sound engineering and photography.
 * Fredrik Bergh - Bass, keyboard, backing vocals, and songwriting (for "Behind the Moon", "Into the Dark", "Metal Monster", "Crucified", "Fallen from Grace" and "Midnight Sun").
 * Urban Breed - Leading vocals, writing (for "Behind the Moon", "Metal Monster" and "Desdemonamelia") and sound engineering.
 * Oskar Belin - Drums, percussion, art direction and design.

Guest musicians

 * Nosferatu thunderclap - Richard Humphries.wavrd Humphries - Thunder sound effect in "Nosferatu".
 * Fredrik Lundberg - Backing vocals.
 * Sofia Westlin - Backing vocals.
 * Daniel Jonsson - Backing vocals.

Other contributors

 * Per Ryberg - Mixing and mastering.
 * Mark Wilkinson - Cover art.
 * Göran Olsson - Photography.

Lyrics
The album has a story to it as well, as Olsson said in an interview. "'We follow one man on his quest to fight the evil demon Nosferatu (the face of the devil) and restore the balance between good and evil, light and dark, heaven and hell…'"

Behind the Moon
This is the first song of the album and also starts of the overarching narrative. It does so with a message from behind the moon. There he gets told that the sunlight has important powers that can be used to fight Nosferatu. He also feels true fear for the first time, something he will never forget. The interview also mentions that "only the prophet can predict his path.", yet this does not appear in the song itself.

Into the Dark
Into the Dark shows to the hero someone who was manipulated into an unspeakable act. He in fact so far gone that he doesn't think he can climb out of the darkness anymore and falls into denial. This never ending descend into the dark teaches the hero to be extra careful before committing atrocities.

Nosferatu
The protagonist somehow ends up in front of the gates of hell, there he sees Nosferatu performing a ritual. He gets seen by the demon, then Olsson says "the demon (...) unleashes the hellhounds", yet again these are not mentioned in the lyrics. This glimpse of the demon is also said to stay with him forever.

Metal Monster
At the start of the song, the hero was at a deep low. He was about to surrender, until the metal monster came to him. She saved him, but this is implied to only be a one-time thing.

Crucified
Here the prophet from Behind the Moon finally appeared. She says that the only way to learn about "the meaning of pure sacrifice", and that is to get crucified. So the Devil returns to earth to inflict the curse of crucifixion on him. He spends a whole week on the cross, which has as effect that all demons are banished from his mind. He recovered, but betrayal is implied to come soon.

Desdemonamelia
The hero is still weakened, so he decides to ask the visionary on what to do. Tragically that visionary is Amelia, the daughter of Nosferatu. He spots her by her tail, but it is too late. The visionary stole his vision and he can only barely get away.

Fallen from Grace
In his escape he ends up in hell, he searches for anything to save him for multiple days. Just as he is about to die due to dehydration he finds the forbidden well, he drinks from it as he cannot recognize it (even though he recovered from blindness). This traps his soul at the sea floor. Nosferatu is there in spirit and attempts to take over his brain.

Screams in the Night
Nosferatu's attempt seems successful: the hero ventures out to a nearby settlement, cloaked by the night he kidnaps all the children. As he returns to hell with them, his control over his blood-thirst slips and he chops up all the children with his knife.

For the King
Nosferatu pulls his newly made companion closer to him by employing him into his legion. There he commits more unspeakable acts, as with his soul trapped at the sea floor and his heart shriveled up, Nosferatu can take full control over him.

Midnight Sun
Nosferatu has prepared a grand finale for him: he must reclaim the lands lost to the midnight sun. He accepts this mission and ventures towards the arctic circle. Luckily the midnight sun is so powerful that it instantly cleanses the darkness out of the hero and he decides to go face Nosferatu.

On the Battlefield
They finally meet face-to-face on the battlefield. There are only two outcomes for our hero: heaven or hell. He decides to fight for all he has, so he may repent and enter heaven in the end. This battle is, and will be, the greatest, bloodiest battle ever faced. The hero seems to take the crown and kill Nosferatu "in the name of the son".

Critical reception
The album got very mixed reviews at first, some critics argued that is was not original enough, and that it sounded too similar to Iron Maiden. On the other hand, The Metal Crypt rated the album a 4.5 out of 5, calling the works an homage to metal history.

Online interest
The album has been streamed many times on online platforms. As of February 2024, these are the numbers. Do note that on YouTube streams (views) are not public in full precision: only two to three significant figures are visible.