Review Summary: Bloodbath has made a statement with this EP that they are alive and kicking and will continue to make music in the future.
If you look at Sweden's type of death metal scene, you will most likely find a number of melodic death metal bands such as
In Flames,
Amon Amarth and a slew of other famous metal bands. I find myself asking these days, “What’s wrong with the old-school league of death metal?” You rarely hear about veteran bands like
Grave and
Unleahsed anymore yet there is one band that has been returning to the fold after a long period of silence.
Bloodbath is one of the few old-school, brutal death metal bands that more people should know about. Like Mikael Akerfeldt said during their live show, “Bloodbath started as a drunken metal project and has now turned into a death metal elite.’’ I have to agree that the band is one of the finest death metal bands in Sweden today. Their merciless, brutal and bludgeoning death metal really stands out from the rest of Sweden's other famous metal bands. The band has (almost) returned to its original crew, except that Dan Swano has been replaced by new guitarist Sodomizer.
Unblessing The Purity is the band's latest achievement if you count out the live album. This EP carries signs of good things to come. The EP is very similar to their NMF album, but this time the band has taken an even more extreme and darker approach.
Nightmares Made Flesh had superb instrumental and vocal performances, resulting in a well varied album that continues throughout this EP.
Blasting the Virginborn is a breakneck track that incorporates intense blast-beats with twisted, haunting lead guitar sections.
Weak Aside sounds similar to the first track and the only difference is that this song has more a balanced structure. The rhythm sections and guitar work are slightly more varied and interesting with a certain catchiness that only this track has.
Sick Salvation also falls into the extreme side of this EP with a blast-beat intro. The overall atmosphere of the track is pretty creepy and evil, yet the overall song structure is pretty laid back because of its mellower tone.
Mouth Of Empty Praise sounds like a mix between both of their full-length albums, mixing in the grooves from RTC and the riff techniques contained on NMF. This is definitely one of the best tracks on this EP.
Bloodbath has always used violence and gore based lyrics while
Unblessing The Purity finds the band stepping away from its traditional lyrics this time. The band seems to have set its focus on occult themes regarding faith, belief and religion. Lyrically, you can easily see what the band is getting at by looking at the creepy album cover where a robed wolf is baptising an infant in blood.
Unblessing The Purity is a must-have for diehard fans and people who worship brutal death metal. The EP doesn't have any huge flaws nor golden moments; it is more or less an improvement of
Nightmares Made Flesh. I knew that the vocal section was going to be stiff because Mikael doesn't have a great range in growl techniques. Fortunately, there are actually some back up vocals to accompany his lack of range.
Unblessing The Purity plunges the listener into darkness with the overall atmosphere on the tracks while the guitars and bass play in a more traditional death metal style. The only track that doesn't stand out so much would be the opening track while the other tracks are brilliant, even if they sound a tad repetitive.
Bloodbath has made a statement with this EP that they are alive and kicking and will continue to make music in the future. Hopefully, we get one more solid full-length from this unique band.
Positives
+ Powerful vocal performance
+ Great sound production
+ Extreme, sinister and evil music
+ Good back up vocals
Negatives
- Slightly repetitive
- Mikeal Akerfeldt has a great growl but his performance becomes slightly one-dimensional
Recommended Tracks
-- All of them, it is after all just four songs.
Final rating will be a: 4/5
