BLOODBATH - Resurrection Through Carnage
October 22, 2002, 22 years ago
(Century Media)
"Extremity through minimalism" is this album's raison d'etre according to the record company, and I couldn't have said it better myself. Incorporating the line-up of Mike Akerfeldt (Opeth), Anders Nystrom and Jonas Rensker of Katatonia, and Edge of Sanity's Dan Swano, Resurrection Through Carnage is Bloodbath's return after 2000's three song Breeding Death EP. Fusing the mentality of the old with the attitude of the old and the aesthetic of the old (gettin' the drift?), this band and the recorded output I speak of reeks of Stockholm circa 1991 - it's a dismembered tomb of a time. Bringing to life this raw, primal Venom-meets-Centinex beast, Bloodbath is an incendiary creation of ultra-metallic proportions, ready to strike at any given moment. Choice cuts are the fantastic retro guitar-toned 'Mass Strangulation' and the beyond speedy 'Bathe In Blood'. Though both bring back that early '90s Power 30 wonderment in me, the music isn't necessarily a total nostalgia trip. Maybe Mike just needed an outlet away from pushing the envelope of originality with Opeth, but I gotta say that this album is not only refreshing in 2002... it's necessary. Who else is going to teach metal's new breed? Unleashed? Umm, no.
