Brothers in Blood shouldn’t be an unfamiliar name to those who follow the Bulgarian underground scene. The band was formed in Pleven in the late 90’s, it has a demo from this period, followed by a few years of being put on hold while Shuta fronted hardcore bulldozers Vendetta. After the latter disbanded, Brothers in Blood seem to be in order with a new line-up – Shuta on vocals, Sven (Pool Punishers) on guitar, Sasho (Empty Face) on bass, and Valio (Empty Face, Distorment) on drums. Also, the band played at pretty much all the major festivals, opened for quite a few bands on their shows in Bulgaria, and did a national tour not long ago. “Take Your Life Back” is all about primal and direct old-school hardcore in the vein of, say, Sick of It All and 25 Ta Life. The songs are 8 and are rather short, with the longest one timing at 3 and a half minutes, while the whole albums does at about 20... This may seem like too less, but works well in practice – the dose is well measured, with the songs being different to one another and each one standing on its own. For example, the opener “Not Us” punches with thrash-like aggression, while the next track, “She Said..”, goes almost melodic at times. In the spirit of brotherhood, the album also features some guests, like new Bulgarian hardcore rising heroes Rise Up frontman Vasko in “The Blame”, that was also put for download prior to the album’s release. The brightest star of the guests however is of course Ignite’s Zoli, who brings “Don’t Say My Name” to a whole new level with his voice. The sound is properly raw, which is good, since such energetic music shouldn’t sound too sterile. The artwork is another example of the intended hardcore rawness – nothing too heroic, just a few dynamic live pics. And they, like the whole CD actually, are just screaming, “Screw all the bullshit, come to the next live show and go nuts!”