Review by Krys on March 12, 2005.

Almost 5 years ago, when a couple of guys wanted to create a band that pays tribute to old school death metal no one even dreamed that circa 2005 we’d be talking about one of the best pure death metal bands in the word, if not the best. With line up shifts and front-man changes there was as much anxiety as anticipation before release of Nightmares Made Flesh. But throw your fears away; Bloodbath came back with its strongest, most mature and best produced material to date.

Starting with production this album simply pulverizes your eardrums with its heaviness, aggression and power but at the same time staggers with its selectiveness and clarity. Flesh ripping guitars, pulsating bass and stomping drums create the feeling of mad animal tearing up your body and molesting your corpse. It’s fast, slow, very slow and then very fast, but most importantly it’s always heavy. Heavy to the point of feeling a 2-ton hammer smashing the skull and leaving your brain flowing down on the wall. New vocalist, Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy) who replaced Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) doesn’t leave any doubts about who should spit the guts in this act, recording arguably the best vocals of his career and bolstering Nightmares Made Flesh to a blueprint status of how pure death metal should sound.

To separate themselves even more from the crowd, Bloodbath diversifies its music with subtle Katatonia like guitar leads and touch of characteristic to this part of the world melody making their sound more unique and quickly recognizable. Track after track the technically simple compositions serve one and one purpose only, to knock you down and roll over you like a tank through a battlefield. There’re no compromises and no surrender; with Nightmares Made Flesh, has Bloodbath leveled the field and declared victory? 2005 is still young but is anyone up for a challenge?

From side project to a monster, Bloodbath became the best pure death metal band in the word! Enough said.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 10
Originality: 8
Overall: 10

Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Review by Adam M on November 29, 2014.

The new Bloodbath has that Swedish sound en grained into it, but bolsters the proceedings with improved production values that accentuate an also somewhat doomy sound. These songs tear the listener to shreds with their power, but also manage to add a mood at the same time. This atmosphere is helped by the addition of Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost, which has always been drenched in melodramatic substance.

The result is an album that helps to carry the beacon for this style after the likes of Black Breath have had a similar role recently. The band has refined the Swedish style to a point where it is almost like a fine wine. In the future, hopefully the band tries some different avenues musically. The moments of aggression on the disc are heavy and enormous sounding, making for an album that has a lot of weight. New vocalist Nick Holmes fits the powerful riffing quite well and the overall musicianship finds a happy medium overall.

One of the strengths of Bloodbath’s new album is the consistency of the tracks. Rather than have one or two tracks stand out, the whole work shows a great deal of balance which helps the album as a cohesive whole. The storming beginning of the album is kept constant throughout the remainder of the material.

This style of metal has been taken from the early Entombed and Dismember material numerous times, but Bloodbath is one of the bands that are doing a worthy job of bringing it to the modern times. If you’re not a fan of this death metal sub-genre or the past works of Bloodbath, this album will do nothing to change your mind. But for fans of the style, Grand Morbid Funeral is about as good as it gets.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10