BLOODBATH Grand Morbid Funeral

Six years have passed since Bloodbath released their last album, the amazing ‘The Fantomless Mastery’, but now they are finally back with their fourth studio album entitled ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’ and I must admit that my expectations were quite high when I pushed the play button. After the first round I was quite disappointed, and although the album has grown after a few more rounds I’m still not fully satisfied with the direction the sound has taken. The album has a kind of darker and much dirtier sound than its predecessor, probably done with intention in order to sound more old school. I’m sure some fans will be happy with that but I still prefer a cleaner and more updated production when it comes to death metal. I don’t think that Paradise Lost front man Nick Holmes manages to fill the shoes of Mikael Åkerfeldt either, but with that said those are of course some big shoes to fill so that was no big surprise actually. In danger of sounding too negative I must add that ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’ by no means appears as poor since most of the material are solid quality. I enjoy it most in the more pompous and atmospheric parts and when guitar harmonies are allowed to dominate the sound. I also feel that the mid-tempo parts does more justice to Nick Holmes voice than the up-tempo stuff.  ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’ would definitely have benefited from a cleaner and more up to date production and that pretty much sums it all up for me.

Discography:

'Grand Morbid Funeral' 2014

'The Fantomless Mastery' 2008

'Nightmares Made Flesh' 2004

'Resurrection Through Carnage' 2002