Bloodbath's Nightmares Made Flesh: Blistering Death Metal

Bloodbath is a side project consisting of members of a thrillion different other bands. Despite existing for six years now, they've never toured, they've gone through several line-up changes, and you'd be hard pressed to find this album in stores. But does all of that really matter when a band kicks as much ass as they do? Nope! Bloodbath rules. End of review. Okay, I'll keep rambling. Initially, Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt handled vocal duties. He heaved forth vomitory bellows of horror on 2000's Breeding Death EP and on 2002's Resurrection Through Carnage. Unfortunately, he needed more time to focus on Opeth exclusively, so he ceded his position as Bloodbath's lead belcher.

Who replaced Akerfeldt for 2004's Nightmares Made Flesh? Why, none other than Peter Tagtgren, he of Pain/Hypocrisy fame. He's one of the few black/death vocalists who can stand toe to toe with Akerfeldt. Incidentally, Tagtgren left the band shortly after this album was released. Oy. But I digress. If you can't tell from the cover art, Bloodbath dabbles in "old school" death metal, although this recording sees the outfit venture into "new school" territory. The songs are more technical, more melodic, and more varied with respect to tempo. While I love RTC (you better get used to abbreviations), I was disillusioned by its lack of blastbeats and guitar solos. What can I say? I'm a whore for blastbeats and solos, and fortuitously, NMF sports a deluge of both ingredients.

If I have to compare Tagtgren to Akerfeldt, I'd say that I prefer the latter. That doesn't count for much, considering that Tagtgren does a commendable job behind the mic. His deep growls are exceedingly deep, and his high-pitched shrieks are exceedingly high. His enunciation is clear, which allows the listener to pick up on a few words here and there. The music itself is just as abrasive. It's also winningly lilting. The leads aren't just armaments of random notes; they're cohesive, catchy, and tuneful. The riffs will bore through your abdomen with the psychotic precision of an acuminate trepan. Check out the midsection of "Soul Evisceration" or the opening stomp of "Brave New Hell." Pure class.

While I'm going over individual tracks, I should note that "Eaten" is one of the coolest songs in the history of the universe. The subject matter alone is cool enough. The lyrics concern a man who desires to be...eaten. It's a slow, heavier-than-heavy number that should have played over the end credits of Parents or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There aren't many grievances that I can level at this g(l)ory hole. My mind does tend to wander during the album's second half. The songs just don't grab me, though honorable mentions go out to "The Ascension" and "Draped in Disease." Closing out the American release of NMF (it came out overseas months before I could get my apical paws on it) are two demos from the Breeding Death sessions. Said EP only contained three songs. My question is, why couldn't Century Media simply slap the entire sampler onto the end of this disc in its proper format? We're only talking about one more song, and besides, the demos sound like absolute shit. Bah!

There isn't much else to say. If you dig death metal at all, you should fall head over cloven heels with Nightmares Made Flesh. And yes, I'm going to cut this paragraph short.