Bloodbath - Unblessing the Purity

BLOODBATH - Unblessing the Purity (PEACEVILLE - CD 2007)

If you still think of Bloodbath as a lousy side project of some Opeth and Katatonia members, then I think there’s something wrong with your head. This band has proved to be serious and through the years they managed to release some fantastic albums. And it’s music what matters, not who’s in the band and what is their priority. Personally I like “Nightmares Made Flesh” the most, it’s such a crushing slab of old school death metal filth. What distinguished this album from the other Bloodbath releases is that it featured Peter Tägtgren on vocals. Of course I also like “Resurrection Through Carnage” a lot, which on the other hand had Mikael Akerfeldt behind the mic. It’s also damn nasty and tasty album. With Tägtgren on vocals Bloodbath did only one album and right after he left, Akerfeldt returned to the band and “Unblessing the Purity” was recorded in 2007. And damn… I like his vocals a lot. It’s almost like the less he used growls in Opeth, the better he sounded in Bloodbath haha! His performance on this EP, as well as on the following “The Wacken Carnage” is really great, in my opinion, I like the sound of his growls and that the vocals are quite understandable, even if brutal and nasty.

I cannot say anything bad about the production of “Unblessing the Purity”. This EP sounds fantastic, it’s very powerful and crushing, but relatively clean … and every instrument is so damn strong. You will feel how this energy blows the speakers and forces you to skull-banging when “Blasting the Virginborn” blasts off with fantastic fast opening part. It truly is a neckbreaking song, but it may surprise you with slightly more progressive sounding mid-part, especially that fantastic guitar lead there.

If you know the previous albums, then you will surely notice that songs from this EP are slightly different. Still deeply placed in the old school death metal roots, but their structures, some ideas and arrangements are not necessarily taken from the plain and simple, straight forward death metal skeleton. “Weak Aside” will be another example for that… but I have to say that I do enjoy this diversity and more original touch to Bloodbath music. Especially when the music is so damn powerful and fast. When I listen to it, I feel like it’s Grave, but faster and with more diversity Grave would ever have. There are four songs here and each is just great, the quality is the same all the way through. Definitely it’s one of the best Bloodbath releases.

Standout track: “Blasting the Virginborn”

Final rate: 80/100