“Mass Strangulation” (live at Bloodstock)
Con subtitulos en español
. . .
Bloodbath over Bloodstock is the second live DVD release in three years from the Swedish supergroup. The band has only played eight shows total, and most members are busy with their main bands – Opeth and Katatonia – both of which just announced a joint US tour for later this year. A follow-up to The Fathomless Mastery may not come for a while, so this DVD is something to enjoy in the meantime.
Bloodbath is a side project for everyone involved. Their music wouldn’t give this away, but their live show does. At times, they are awkward to watch. But it’s an intriguing kind of awkwardness, since we already know that each member of the band has major credentials with other projects. It’s interesting to see Jonas Renkse and Mikael Åkerfeldt cover different musical ground. Renkse as a bassist in Bloodbath is entirely different from Renkse as a frontman in Katatonia. Mikael Åkerfeldt seems to fumble around slightly in his Bloodbath role, but it works for the band. On this DVD, the Opeth frontman stands on stage, sans guitar, in aviators and a fitted leather jacket. His jokes are well-rehearsed, but are still so eccentric that they remain funny. He jabs at himself and the ridiculousness of the death metal image (“I remember I vomited just before I was recording my vocals [for the Breeding Death EP], and it came out pretty well, I must say”.) A few band members sport haphazard attempts at gore makeup – Mikael’s being shrouded by his aviators and barely noticeable. You have to wonder if this is all so strangely thrown together on purpose. Knowing Åkerfeldt’s sense of humor, it is.
It turns out that “Eaten”, the song featured on the official promo clip, is one of the weakest tracks on the DVD. It just doesn’t pack enough punch without Peter Tägtgren’s inhuman screech, and Åkerfeldt sounds like he’s trudging through the song. The vocals are better executed on the remainder of the DVD. Åkerfeldt’s growl is now lower and grittier, which took getting used to initially. This could be from fatigue after years of doing vocals, or him making a conscious effort to conserve his voice. Perhaps it’s just a personal decision to continue deepening his vocals, as he has over the span of his career.
The ultra-distorted guitar tone sounds identical to the tone on the studio albums, but the leads are noticeably more vibrant. The backing vocals are clear and menacing. The tracks from Nightmares Made Flesh take on a new character as Åkerfeldt adds his own spin on Tägtgren’s work. The real standouts are the selections from Resurrection Through Carnage and The Fathomless Mastery. “Process of Disillumination” and “Mass Strangulation” explode with energy – the first with its ominous tremolo riffing, the second with its haunting leads and whipping drumbeat.
Quick cuts and a variety of camera angles give some edge to an otherwise standard festival setting. Sunlight floods the camera shots, minimizing the onstage effects. This DVD really puts the spotlight on the music. The sound would be tight enough to stand alone on a live album.
Never taking themselves too seriously, Bloodbath have a great balance of strict death metal on record, a tongue-in-cheek live presence, and that element of mystery that results from performing so infrequently. Next to catching one of their rare live appearances, Bloodbath over Bloodstock might be the easiest way to get the full effect of the band’s laid-back but crushing death metal.
BUY BLOODBATH OVER BLOODSTOCK
. . .
The artwork for the DVD is pretty killer too! Big fan.
Wow those subtitles in spanish make as much sense as subtitled porn.
Never really got into these dudes, but it always struck me that they always talk about playing “traditional swedish death metal”. Besides the guitar tone, which is pretty accurate, this doesn’t even feel like Swedish Death to me — the vocal phrasing and riffing feels like a parody, rather. I know he calls it stupid, but that riff is just… boneheaded. I can sit around and listen to the worst Grave albums all day, but this stuff just leaves me cold.
Still an entertaining vid, though. And a good post!
I think these guys pay mental tribute to the Swedish DM originals, but that’s the extent of the homage. I hear the first two albums as fairly modern, dark, and surprisingly lyrical (musically). (I haven’t heard the last album at all.) Approaching Bloodbath expecting traditional Swedish DM isn’t fruitful, I think.
But I agree that Åkerfeldt’s goofy stage presence could make the music seem like a parody when it’s really not. I kind of wish I hadn’t seen these live clips, because Bloodbath in my head was so much cooler than this live manifestation.
The last Bloodbath record and the EP that came before it are way better than the first two, and sound more like Morbid Angel worship than anything!
The Wacken Carnage DVD was far, far better.
Quick correction: Anders Nyström is the guitarist of Katatonia, so Bloodbath technically is a side project.
Fixed! Thanks for the catch.
Fantastic photo for the header image!
The current incarnation of Bloodbath is quite an odd ensemble…at least odd looking, anyway.
Akerfeldt seems uncomfortable without an instrument, but his sense of humor is still there. He gives off the vibe that it’s just all about having a good time, which is kinda refreshing, actually.
Per Sodomizer looks like death metal incarnate. I mean, he practically looks dead with that skeletal figure. His gaunt face and scraggly hair only add to it. Top it off with an old-school DM tee… Perfect.
Jonas Renkse just seems like a fat geek. His girth makes him seem wrong for Katatonia, but just makes him almost cute in Bloodbath. It’s funny to see the guy we know as a sad-sack singer up on stage rocking some blasting DM.
Anderys Nystrom is a brilliant artist trapped in a glam-rockers body.
Not much to say about Axe, though. Good drummer!
Well, Mikael’s doing the vocals quite differently on this DVD than he does them on the records, and not for the better, so I won’t be exploring this much further than the few I’ve seen YouTube clips for. Shame, because his bellow has been as good on the last few things he’s done (Fathomless Mastery, Watershed) as it’s ever been. Must have been sick the night of this recording or something.
I’ve always been crazy about Mikael’s growls (not just their character but also their intelligibility), but I don’t know what to make of this video – I hate to say it, but it reminded me of Mike Portnoy’s regrettable attempt at growling in ‘Nightmare to Remember’… (Somewhat ironic, as I was so relieved to see Åkerfeldt come onstage when DT played the song on the Progressive Nation tour.)
The unconvincing ‘tough guy vocals’ also draw attention to the rather silly lyrics; a good example of this effect is Tägtgren’s performance on ‘Eaten’, where he manages to get away with lines like ‘As an appetiser, I’ll let you taste my daughter’, or using the word ‘dessert’ without stopping me mid-headbang…
This band has been on my ignore list since I heard of them and forever there they shall remain
I was at this show and the DVD definitely doesn’t do it justice. Bloodbath are a band to be enjoyed in the flesh for sure!
I love Bloodbath but Mike’s vocals are really weird on this disc. Actually they are fine on the 5 tracks from the 2008 show but you can tell he’s really holding back on the other songs. I understand him wanting to conserve his voice but it really doesn’t sound like the same Bloodbath with him singing this way.