Bloodbath
Grand Morbid Funeral


3.5
great

Review

by ExplosiveOranges USER (72 Reviews)
November 28th, 2014 | 85 replies


Release Date: 2014 | Tracklist

Review Summary: On a left hand path/Global fucking bloodbath

Of all the supergroups in the Swedish extreme metal scene, there aren’t too many quite like Bloodbath. The band started off as a culmination of members from progressive death metal acts that wanted to hearken back to the days of Morbid Angel and Suffocation, but could never maintain a stable lineup. Sure, they managed to keep together most of the instrumentalists, but they just couldn’t settle on a vocalist. There was the constant flip-flopping between Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth and Peter Tagtgren of Hypocrisy, and it eventually became so tedious that the band went on hiatus in 2012. Finally, in 2014, Bloodbath have revealed their new frontman as Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost, and have released a new album entitled Grand Morbid Funeral. With their first LP in six years, Bloodbath aim to live up to the expectations set over their hiatus, and manage to come out successful for the most part.

The first thing you’ll notice about Grand Morbid Funeral is the production style. Following up on the more concise production from The Fathomless Mastery, the mix on the album is both raw and clear. It greatly resembles the style seen on classic Swedish death metal albums such as Entombed’s Left Hand Path, with the heavily distorted guitar riffs and bass becoming so entwined that they resemble the buzzing of chainsaws. At the same time, though, the sound of the lead guitar and drums ring out very distinctly, leaving no room for ambient background noise or other lower production values. While we’re on the topic of the instrumental side, it’s worth noting that almost all of the instrumentalists on the album (minus guitarist Per Eriksson) have been in the band now for at least ten years, with bassist Jonas Renkse and lead guitarist Anders Nystrom being the two founding members left in the band. This shines through in the music, as everyone seems to be focused and dependent on one another as a group. Martin Axenrot’s drums provide a steady support for the aforementioned buzzsaw-like riffs of Renkse and Eriksson, while Nystrom throws in a nifty guitar solo every now and then to prevent the constant boom of the rhythm from descending into complete monotony. It’s a supergroup in every sense of the word.

However, there are two glaring problems with Grand Morbid Funeral. Firstly, vocalist Nick Holmes is, sadly, the weakest link on the album. His growls are by no means unbearable, but they don’t have any unique qualities to them. Mikael’s deep, bellowing roars and Peter’s tenacious snarling were both easily recognizable and stood out amongst other death metal vocalists. Nick hasn’t really done harsh vocals in Paradise Lost for a while now, and it shows. However, the biggest detractor is the fact that as dynamic as Bloodbath is, there’s no particular standout tracks on Grand Morbid Funeral. Sure, the album flows together very well, but at the end of the day, you won’t be able to remember most of the song titles or even be able to tell the tracks apart from one another. At least their previous work had some memorable tracks like “Eaten” and “Hades Rising”. Here, it feels like the entire album is just one really long death metal song.

But even in spite of all that, Grand Morbid Funeral does end up getting the job done. You see, even though there’s nothing on here that you haven’t already heard before, Bloodbath does it all so well that you can’t help but get a little lost in it. Truth be told, at this point in time, it’d be a fool’s gambit to expect anything too surprising or refreshing from the band. Yet, Grand Morbid Funeral works just fine for what it is: a nostalgia trip into the caverns of old school death metal. And if you’re willing to bust out that ol’ Dismember t-shirt and bottle of Jack Daniel’s you haven’t touched since ’93, then Grand Morbid Funeral is sure to be one hell of headbanger.



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user ratings (356)
3.5
great

Comments:Add a Comment 
ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

http://www.metalsucks.net/2014/11/17/exclusive-full-album-stream-bloodbaths-grand-morbid-funeral/



Pretty neat stuff. As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed. Thanks to JohnnyOnTheSpot for helping me clean this up a bit.

emester
November 28th 2014


8271 Comments


Nice review EO.

Album was very forgettable. I already dont remember much of what it sounds like other than lackluster vocals and a few good riffs.

TalonsOfFire
Emeritus
November 28th 2014


21001 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Nice review, was wondering when you were gonna post this. Pos'd

ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

@emester Thanks. I gotta agree on that one. I legit can't remember a single song's name off of this.



@Talons Thanks bruv.

cryptside
November 28th 2014


2406 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Pos'd, friend. I'm thinking I might like this one a smidge more than you, but overall I agree with your review. And WHO doesn't touch a bottle of Jack for that long?!

ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Idk man, gotta give it that musty tinge.

MO
November 28th 2014


24113 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

albums ok

ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

The Fathomless Mastery >>>>>>>>>>

Archelirion
November 28th 2014


6594 Comments


Neat review. I'll probably treat this with a whole cup of 'meh' as this variety of dm isn't usually my thing, but I'll give it a chance.

ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Thanks, mate. It's worth a shot.

mryrtmrnfoxxxy
November 28th 2014


16699 Comments


check nightmares if you haven't

ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

EATUUUUUUHN

MO
November 28th 2014


24113 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

all about unblessing the purity muthafukas

ExplosiveOranges
November 28th 2014


4408 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Unblessing the Purity is fantastic agreed

MO
November 28th 2014


24113 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

m/

EvoHavok
November 28th 2014


8089 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Nice review! Akerfeldt aside, I like this more than Fathomless Mastery.

DropdeadWHA
November 28th 2014


1396 Comments


Vocals are off-putting.

Archelirion
November 28th 2014


6594 Comments


This was surprisingly good. I actually liked the vocals, though I seem to be in the minority on that one.

Voivod
Staff Reviewer
November 28th 2014


10937 Comments


Jamming this now, this sounds great.

SharkTooth
November 28th 2014


14937 Comments


eyy Oranges made a thing

pos might listen just 'cuz opeth




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