| EP review: Bloodbath - Unblessing The Purity |
| Peaceville Records, 2008 | Review published: 2008/05/15 |
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 It was nothing but love that played the principal role in the formation of the Swedish metal band Bloodbath, often referred to as being a so-called "supergroup". Love for death metal of the old school. You don't believe me? Listen to anything this syndicate has released and let the music speak for itself.
The debut effort "Resurrection Through Carnage" (preceded two years earlier by the EP "Breeding Death") that was unleashed in 2002 really impressed me with its brutal yet catchy approach to death metal. Said album has since then faded somewhat as a whole, but the best tracks off the disc are still among the finest the Swedish death metal scene has ever given birth to.
The sophomore album "Nightmares Made Flesh", which saw the exit of Opeth mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt and entrance of workaholic Peter Tägtgren, was not really on pair with its predecessor. Not in my opinion, but a lot of people seemed to appreciate it very much, at least at the time of its release. Solid vocals by Peter by all means, but Hypocrisy is the only band I want him screaming his guts out in. With that being said, let's focus our attention on this EP release for a while.
Katatonia members Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström still constitute the basic foundation of the band, no surprises there. The real treat is that the "Unblessing The Purity" EP sees the return of Mikael as vocalist. Exactly how productive this slightly revamped line-up will be remains to be seen though, as Bloodbath always has been seen as a side project, by the metal community. Even by the band members themselves I reckon. Now onto more important matters.
The first tune "Blasting The Virginborn" is fierce and brutal, yet not completely devoid of melody and groove. The feeling of having you-know-who back in the band is great, but the song itself is of no particular interest to me. A bit disappointing. "Weak Aside" kind of continues where the opener left off, being equally brutal but at the same time also more melodic. A ruthless death metal slaughter from start to finish. Thumbs up for solid musicianship, thumbs down for uninspired songwriting. Two down, two to go. "Mouth Of Empty Praise" is stronger in terms of arranged vocals, almost having an infectious part. Please note that I wrote almost, this song won't be granted access to my playlist many times the following years, that's for sure. With 75 percent boring material so far, things look bleak for Bloodbath anno 2008. The fourth execution dubbed "Sick Salvation" does little to restore the faith I once had in this band. Honestly, this is as edgeless as any of its three colleagues. What the hell? The smell of rotten flesh which made the debut album one of the better releases of 2002 is not present on any of these four pieces. Sadly enough. It's more than obvious that Jonas and Anders have spent too much time and effort on Katatonia related activities during these last years and very little on the death metal madness that is Bloodbath. I wonder what these guys have to say in their defense? I'd also like to question their real motive for kicking Dan Swanö out of the band.
In conclusion, Bloodbath continues its bloodstained path (did anyone really expect otherwise?) and with Mikael back in the team I predict that "Unblessing The Purity" will sell a fair amount of copies. Whatever, my final verdict is that the band has yet to recapture the magic of "Resurrection Through Carnage".
Peter Eliasson
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01. Blasting The Virginborn
02. Weak Aside
03. Sick Salvation
04. Mouth Of Empty Praise
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