I sort of liked the demo Arbor Vitae as it was a little different and so is the debut Blood Vessel Criteria, but for some reason I don't find it very captivating. The music is death metal influenced by everything from Cannibal Corpse to Meshuggah. It's rather noticeable that Zeenon have developed their sound further since Arbor Vitae. The songs are fairly varied, but do occasionally have an unfortunate tendency to sound a little too much alike. Another downside and possible explanation for this is that there are not a whole lot of solos on the album. It was a thing I also found a bit problematic on the demo, but things have improved, but not to an extend where it makes a real difference.

The sterile production does not help much either as it makes the music sound a bit hollow and flat. That's probably also my biggest problem with Blood Vessel Criteria. The guitars just don't sound as fat and full as they should. They tend to sound thin held up against Linn's deep guttural growls. I still think Zeenon has potential and Blood Vessel Criteria is not a bad debut, but not as convincing as I could have hoped for. It will be interesting to see what they can achieve with their next release as there's no doubt they have the ideas. If you're looking for something a little different than the usual run-of-the-mile death metal then Blood Vessel Criteria may be worth a closer look.