METALLIAN - Bloodbath

Resurrection Through Carnage - 2002 - Century Media
Nightmares Made Flesh - 2005 - Century Media
The Wacken Carnage - 2008 - Peaceville
The Fathomless Mastery - 2008 - Peaceville
Grand Morbid Funeral - 2014 – Peaceville
The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn – 2018 - Peaceville
Survival Of The Sickest – 2022 - Peaceville

Members

Vocals

Opeth, Katatonia>>Mikael Akefeldt>>Steel, Katatonia, Opeth - Seditious, War, The Abyss, Hypocrisy, Pain>>Peter Tägtgren>>Hypocrisy, Pain – Opeth, Katatonia, Steel>>Mikael Åkerfeldt>>Opeth – Paradise Lost>>NICK HOLMES>>Paradise Lost

Guitar

Katatonia, Diabolical Masquerade>>ANDERS NYSTROM>>Katatonia, Diabolical Masquerade - Diabolical Masquerade, Ulanbator, Therion, Katatonia, Overflash, Route Nine, Solo, Edge Of Sanity, Maceration, Subway Mirror, Godsend, Pan-thy-monium, Therion, Steel, Nightingale>>Dan Swanö>>Solo, Nightingale, Star One, Demiurg, Obliterhate - 21 Lucifers, Komotio, Katatonia>>Per Eriksson>>21 Lucifers, Komotio, Katatonia, Ghost – Craft>>Joakim Karlsson>>Craft, Korda, Eschatology – Chaosys, Katatonia,Nale, Lik>>TOMAS ÅKVIK>>Nale, Lik

Bass

Katatonia, October Tide>>JONAS RENKSE>>Katatonia

Drum

Diabolical Masquerade, Ulanbator, Therion, Katatonia, Overflash, Route Nine, Solo, Edge Of Sanity, Maceration, Subway Mirror, Godsend, Pan-thy-monium, Therion, Steel, Nightingale>>Dan Swano>>Solo, Nightingale, Star One - Morgue, Blasphemous, Triumphator, Witchery, Satanic Slaughter, Nifelheim, Opeth>>MARTIN AXENROT>>Witchery, Opeth

History & Biography

With the release of the Breeding Death EP on Century Media in 2000 the band members sought to recapture some of the early Swedeath vibe. This was initially announced as a one-off release for this project. The success of the album answered the members' question regarding whether a full length will be recorded. All the same Swano had already indicated his lack of time and interest.

Nevertheless October of 2002 brought the release of the project's debut album entitled Resurrection Through Carnage. The band made a return appearance in early 2005 with Martin Axenrot on drums. Interestingly, the flexible Swanö was transferred to second guitar department. By the time the album was released Tägtgren was out due to conflicting schedule and Akefeldt was back in for a live appearance.

The group announced a mini-CD, called Unblessing The Purity, on March 10th, 2008 through Peaceville Records. Per Eriksson joined Katatonia as a fill-in guitarist in late 2009. He was a Katatonia roadie. Bloodbath would release a live DVD, called Bloodbath Over Bloodstock, on April 25th of 2011 through Peaceville Records. The video featured Bloodbath's August 2010 performance at the Bloodstock festival. Nick Holmes was on vocals for 2014’s Grand Morbid Funeral. Mikael Åkerfeldt had left the band again two years prior. Bloodbath’s North American tour was cancelled in 2018 when the band could not obtain US Visas. Kreator, Bloodbath and Dimmu Borgir would tour Europe in December. Bloodbath would release an album called The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn in October. Per was gone. Joakim Karlsson was on guitar. Joakim Karlsson left the band in mid-2019 and would focus on Craft. The man claimed he was never meant to be a good guitarist. The band recruited Tomas Åkvik of Lik as its touring guitarist. Waltteri Väyrynen of Paradise Lost began touring with the band, a situation which persisted as Axenrot refused to be roll up his sleeve for the vaccine when the pandemic hit.

Death metal side-project Bloodbath signed with Napalm Records in 2022. Tomas Åkvik was a full member now. The band had released music on Century Media and Peaceville. The band had booked festivals in Europe and Mexico. The guys released a full-length album, entitled Survival Of The Sickest, through Napalm Records on September 9th 2022. The band was booked for The Dortmund Deathfest, which was to take place in that city in Germany in August 2023. Everyone and everything was an 'anniversary' on the metal scene so Bloodbath had the Grand Morbid Funeral "special" 10th anniversary edition LP through Peaceville Records in June 2024. The band played several US gigs in the spring of 2024 with Primordial opening.

Reviews

BLOODBATH - BREEDING DEATH - CENTURY MEDIA
Can you believe the growler on the mike is none other than Mikael the vocalist of the crappy Opeth - sorry little boys and girls it's true - and the other members are either Dan Swano or culled also from Opeth and Katatonia. Merely a three-song teaser, with the possibility of a full-length in the future, this CD is an exercise in the pure form of death metal better associated with the early part of the last decade. While musically there is a good shade or two of early Edge of Sanity, albeit souped up with mega-violence, the vocals growl with the ferocity of a General Surgery and the effects of Blood. It's pretty genuine stuff from an unlikely bunch and something I would take a serious look at for fans of the heavier end of the spectrum. - Ali "The Metallian"

BLOODBATH - RESURRECTION THROUGH CARNAGE - CENTURY MEDIA
Bloodbath is marketed and sold as a throwback to the good old Swedeath sound popularized at Sunlight Studio and by Entombed, Carnage (see album title) and Dismember. Listening to the album verifies the claim - which is hardly a surprise to fans who heard the band's debut EP of two years ago.
Sadly, the more this reviewer listens to this album, the less Resurrection Through Carnage thrills him. Where the band has successfully captured the sound of the aforementioned acts is with the guitar and oddly enough the drums. The latter even sounds as if sampled from early Entombed. The vocals, however, are another matter. Thicker and deeper than the typical Entombed/Dismember delivery, the singing is more reminiscent of another Swedish band namely, Necrophobic. Which is a coincidence given how track four, Death Delerium, reminds one of Necrophobic musically as well! Coincidentally and speaking of Death..., album closer Cry My Name is a blatant Death knock-off. The guitars are Chuck Schuldiner pure and simple. This might also explain the following lyric from the same song 'here in death's domain/where even shadows die...'
As mentioned earlier, Bloodbath has mastered the sound and patterns of vintage Swedish death metal. What is lacking though is the vibe and intensity inherent in the authentic material. This is of little surprise given how this band features Katatonia and Opeth members. Of course, we shall not forget Bloodbath's drummer: none other than one Dan Swano. He wimped out years ago - Ali "The Metallian"

BLOODBATH - NIGHTMARES MADE FLESH - CENTURY MEDIA
Bloodbath, the Swedish death metal 'super group', is back with album number two nigh on three years after the band's full-length debut. This time around the album is good. The sum of an impressive vocal delivery by Hypocrisy's Peter Tagtgren, whose voice is not what fans are used to from his main band, and riffs and arrangement that, if anything, demonstrate that the members must have spent a lot of time on their presumed side-project mean that Nightmares Made Flesh has turned out to be a disc chock-full of quality death metal. The speed varies from slow to mid-pace to blasting and the music goes from melodic rhythms reminiscent of Vomitory's or Demigod's to savage chords and back and, in either case, the band comes up trumps. The song Eaten even ventures into Testament's The New Order territory. Interestingly enough, the band and label have tagged two demo songs unto the CD's end for a total of fourteen songs which turn out to be more in synch with Morbid Angel and Celtic Frost respectively than what is on offer in the main body of the album. At any rate, Nightmares Made Flesh is a very good slab of musical defilement. - Ali "The Metallian"

Interviews

Bloodbath