I awaited the new BLOODBATH album with both impatience and trepidation: what kind of experiments might such a lineup venture into? (Let's recall the peculiar guitar tone on the first album.) And the first surprise awaited me even before the disc's release — none other than Peter Tagtgren himself stepped up to the microphone stand (the significance of this man needs no elaboration), while Dan Swano took up the guitar instead of the drums. Anders Nystrom, Jonas Renkse, and Martin Axenrot carry no less weight on the metal scene. Although perhaps it's for the better that Mikael Akerfeldt left — his voice is more associated in my mind with the intellectual and aesthetic music of OPETH rather than with the carnage these guys deliver. And the carnage here is truly excellent. There's no need to even discuss the quality of the material and the recording — everything is done at the highest level, as expected from people who created a good half of death metal (and beyond). As for the musical content of the disc, it's standard Swedish death metal — I'd even call it quintessential Swede-death — but death metal of the highest caliber, prepared according to the best tried-and-true recipes. Tagtgren's arrival didn't exactly benefit the collective, although it significantly changed the band's sound: every song reeks rather strongly of the HYPOCRISY spirit. But ultimately, the result is a quality product with no pretense of originality. It remains to be said that the album is dedicated to Quorthon (BATHORY) — "the founding father of death/black metal."
