Bloodbath: The Arrow of Satan is Drawn (2018)

Here is an excellent album to be playing on Valentine's Day.

There are not too many metal supergroups that have been going as long as Bloodbath.  It is kind of the nature of supergroups to form, release an album, do a tour, and that's it.  But Bloodbath has kept going and going and going.  This is now the band's fifth full-length album among a couple of EPs, a live album, a split, and a couple of singles.  That is quite a lot for a supergroup.

There have been different iterations of the band over the years, though Jonas Renske and Anders Nyström (both from Katatonia) have been with the group from the beginning.  Currently the band is rounded out by Martin Axenrot (Opeth) on drums, Joakim Carlsson (Craft) on guitar and Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) providing the death growls.  In the past, Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Peter Tagtren (Hypocrisy) have been the vocalists.  This is Holmes's second album with the band, but for some reason I completely missed the first one, so I had no idea he had been with the band before.  Holmes is kind of an interesting choice because Paradise Lost has not had any death metal elements since the early 1990's. 

Enough of the background though.  As has been the case since the beginning and was the original purpose of the band, Bloodbath plays old school death metal that is mostly derived from early Swedish bands like Grave and Entombed, with a little bit of Florida death metal thrown in for good measure (the band's name comes from a Cancer song).  It is not surprising then that the music of Bloodbath is generally faster-paced with buzzsaw guitar riffs and deep, roaring vocals.  There is a general dark and nasty tone present throughout that fits in well with the themes of blood, death, gore and warfare.

The most interesting song on the album is "Bloodicide" due to the guest musicians.  Karl Willetts (Bolt Thrower, Memoriam), Jeff Walker (Carcass), and John Walker (Cancer) all contribute vocals.  Although for those not terribly familiar with those singers, it may be somewhat difficult to tell. 

This is yet another impressive release by Bloodbath.  I still prefer Åkerfeldt's vocals over those of Holmes, but I enjoyed the riffs a little more on this one.  There is a bit more of the Dismember-style buzzsaw guitar tone on this release rather than the murkier tones of Grave.  That has always been one of my favorite aspects of the Swedish death metal and Bloodbath uses it to great effect on this release.  I have seen other reviews call this the weakest of Bloodbath's releases and while it is true that some of the songs are not quite as memorable as on albums past, it is still a damn impressive release.