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.

My Favorite Metal Side Projects

I don't really need to explain what a side project is. If I do, then you will get a sense of what it is from reading this post. These are my favorite side projects in no particular order. If your favorite is not here, I probably either don't like them or haven't heard them.

DOWN
Down formed as a side project of members of Pantera (Phil Anselmo, and later Rex Brown), Corrosion of Conformity (Pepper Keenan), Crowbar (Kirk Windstein, Todd Strange), and Eyehategod (Jimmy Bower). The band played a style of metal incorporating Southern rock elements and doom metal. It sounded aggressive and dirty and sounded like it came from the swamps of Louisiana, which is of course where the band is from. The first album blew everyone away. While the second and third albums are not as good as the first one, the band has still become a major force in metal. Especially since Pantera is no longer around and the other bands are are on hiatus or just have not released anything in awhile. This is my personal favorite side project.
NAILBOMB
Nailbomb was a side project for Max Cavalera of Sepultura and Alex Newport of the horrendously named Fudge Tunnel. The band formed as an outlet for the members to experiment with industrial thrash metal similar to Ministry. The band is extremely loud and powerful with Max's brutal vocals to carry things along. The politics of Sepultura's groove metal period have also been brought to the mix. This was essentially a one-off project to allow the members to play a different style of metal. It's not bad but not one of the better side projects out there. They certainly know how to raise an unholy racket though.
BLOODBATH
The Swedish death metal supergroup is a collection of several musicians from the country's metal scene that have decided to pay tribute to old school Swedish death. The band was originally formed with members of Opeth (Mikael Akerfeldt), Edge of Sanity (Dan Swano), and Katatonia (Jonas Renske, Blakkheim Nystrom). Later, Akerfeldt left and Martin Axenrot (Witchery, Opeth) and Peter Tagtren (Hypocrisy) joined. Still later, Akerfeldt returned to replace Tagtren and Per Eriksson also joined after Swano left. The band plays fast, heavy death metal with a strong reverence toward groups like Nihilist, Carnage, Dismember, Grave, and others. The guitar sound features the familiar buzzsaw tone. The band has released three albums, a couple of EPs, and a live album and are quickly becoming a force unto themselves.
DRAGONLORD
This one's a little different. Dragonlord is the symphonic black metal side project of several members of bands who have little to nothing to do with black metal. The principal members are Eric Peterson of Testament and Steve Smyth of Nevermore. The band plays black metal similar to Dimmu Borgir and other symphonic black metal bands. They were formed so that Peterson could explore darker music than the thrash metal of Testament. It was a little weird looking through band photos and seeing these guys in corpse paint. Oh well, they're very good at what they do, even though symphonic black metal is not one of my favorite genres. My good friend got me their second CD when I graduated from law school. I enjoy it quite a bit.
I
This is one of my favorite side projects. I is a combination of musicians from Norwegian black metal bands coming together and playing traditional-sounding heavy metal but with blackened vocals. The band consists of Abbath and Armagedda of Immortal, TC King of Gorgoroth, and Ice Dale of Enslaved. Demonaz of Immortal wrote many of the songs and lyrics while recovering from Carpal Tunnel (damn insanely fast Immortal riffs). The songs are incredibly memorable and the riffs are great. This is one of the most interesting side projects in years.
LAETHORA
Laethora is a side project of Niklas Sundin of Dark Tranquillity. The band was formed as a way for Sundin to explore more extreme forms of metal than the melodic death metal that Dark Tranquillity releases. Laethora has influences from brutal death, grindcore, old school death metal, and doom metal. The band will soon release their second full-length album.
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY
This is Max Cavalera's return to metallic form. Taking a break from nu-metal band Soulfly, Cavalera joins with his brother Iggor who recently left Sepultura, Soulfly guitarist and flamenco-specialist Marc Rizzo, and Gojira bassist Joe DuPlantier. Cavalera Conspiracy's sound is a mix of groove metal and thrash metal with some hardcore influences thrown in as well. The band was a reunion for the Cavalera brothers who have not played in the same band together since Max left Sepultura in the late 1990's.
HAIL OF BULLETS
An amazing collection of death metal talent came together in this album, a concept album centered around the German invasion of Russia in WWII. The musicians from Thanatos joined forces with Pestilence/Asphyx lead singer Martin Van Drunen, one of the most distinctive voices in extreme metal. He brings his trademarked raspy, hissing growls to Thanatos's infectious riffwork. A great album. Soon after, Van Drunen announced a reformation of Asphyx. Excellent.
RAZOR OF OCCAM
I had to end on an Australian war metal band. Razor of Occam is a combination of musicians from Destroyer 666, Adorior, and Macabre Omen. As implied, they play blackened thrash metal. It's fast, aggressive, and razor sharp. They lyrics are a bit more on the intelligent side than those of D666's. Not a problem though as the music is just as incendiary as ever.

Strange Album Covers Pt. 4: Horror Finally the End

Finally the last entry in this series. So, let's get it done already:

EMPEROR: ANTHEMS TO THE WELKIN AT DUSK

The great Emperor appears here on their last great album. The band broke up a few years and one more full length later. This cover features a war between angels, that is if you can actually see anything here thanks to the incredibly dark shades of green and black. An amazing album that was the final culmination of the work the band had been leading towards since they formed.

BLOODBATH: THE FATHOMLESS MASTERY

Bloodbath is a supergroup from some of Sweden's finest death metal bands and has featured a revolving door of members from groups like Opeth, Katatonia, Edge of Sanity, Hypocrisy, and more. This is their latest album that has a cover featuring either zombies or ghosts, tough to say, although the artwork is incredibly macabre.

MERCILESS DEATH: REALM OF TERROR

Merciless Death is one of the many bands from the new trend towards of classic thrash metal. Merciless Death is closer in sound to Dark Angel's heyday than bands like Metallica or Megadeth though. This album cover features a malevolent spirit attacking a priest in a church.

COFFINS: BURIED DEATH

Yes, zombies! Zombies are fucking awesome and everyone, even doom/death bands from Japan like Coffins, know it. I chose this one, even though the cover to their previous album is even more grotesque and awful.

ATROCIOUS ABNORMALITY: ECHOES OF THE ROTTING

See above, more zombies! Woo hoo! Atrocious Abnormality is a brutal death metal band from North Carolina that I previously reviewed on this blog.