Breeding Death - Bloodbath

.../> 1. Breeding Death 04:25
2. Ominous Bloodvomit 03:46
3. Furnace Funeral 05:03

Total playing time 13:14

Summary: A great homage to old Floridian death metal and a sign of better things to come.

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'Breeding Death' is the first release by Bloodbath, a Swedish supergroup of sorts consisting of Opeth's Michael Akerfeldt on vocals, Katatonia's Anders "Blakkheim" Nystrom and Jonas Renske on guitar and bass respectively, and Dan Swano, also once of Katatonia, on drums.

As the gory artwork would suggest, the band exists soley to play tribute to the (largely Floridian) death metal legends of yore, and the album has a strong feel of old Cannibal Corpse about it, with more than a hint of early Deicide, Morbid Angel and Obituary in there as well. 'Breeding Death' consists of three tracks of crunchy, mid-paced old school death metal, with Akerfeldt's booming, raw growls complementing the alternately punchy and groove-heavy and raw and melodic riffs, low, twangy bass lines and simple but effective drumming.

'Furnace Funeral' is particularly enjoyable, ranging from catchy, chugging riffs to frast, frenetic sections with hurried, barked vocals, and including a slow, doomy bridge complete with a self-knowingly cheesy keyboard passage overlaid with slow, drawn out guitars and lamenting growls.

Its hugely satisfying to see these talented musical minds turn their attention away from the sensitive, reflective progressive rock/metal they are best known for and channelling their energies into raw, darkly humerous no-nonsense death metal instead. It's particularly refeshing, too, to hear Michael Akerfeld singing about murder, gore and cannibalism rather than the mature, darkly-romantic, lyrical themes of his main band.

With a total runtime of only 13.14 it's a rather short EP, but it remains an , unpretentious, deliberately dated-sounding and immensely enjoyable listen throughout, executed with the usual skill associated with its immensely talented creators.

Well worth picking up either on its own, or as a bonus addition to Bloodbath's 2004 full-length, 'Nightmares Made Flesh'.

Tracklisting-

1. Breeding Death 04:25
2. Ominous Bloodvomit 03:46
3. Furnace Funeral 05:03

Total playing time 13:14

Summary: A great homage to old Floridian death metal and a sign of better things to come.

 

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