BLOODBATH - The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn (26 octobre 2018)

Nouveau recueil de poésie suédoise, avec un nouveau guitariste pour remplacer Sodomizer et une orgie de growlers en guest sur un titre. Ca semble être dans la lignée du précédent, old school et poisseux. Bref, ça fait envie.  



Like all gore-drenched sequels, demonic death metal supergroup BLOODBATH's fifth slice of morbid savagery comes even darker, nastier and sicker than before. It's been four years since "Grand Morbid Funeral", and Stockholm's shadiest death cult — with members drawn from metal luminaries PARADISE LOST, KATATONIA, OPETH and CRAFT — return with a new slab of old-school, HM-2 driven blackness: "The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn", due on October 26 via Peaceville.

Recorded by BLOODBATH and Karl Daniel Liden at Ghost Ward, City Of Glass and Tri-Lamb Studios during the first half of this foul year of our Lord, the album is the second with Nick Holmes (PARADISE LOST) on vocals. If "Grand Morbid Funeral" was a thick spray of deathly noise, on "The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn", it is the rotten, fetid state of the world and our inevitable doom that is casting a looming shadow over proceedings. With world leaders threatening nuclear annihilation in 140 characters over social media, capitalism tearing itself apart, a wilful march into a surveillance state via handy pocket spying devices, a shifting climate that appears to literally be trying to kill us… It's all fuelled BLOODBATH's newest ode to filth.

"What are we presenting with this album? Humanity's unfaltering march prone towards downfall," declares guitarist Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (KATATONIA). "The threat to this world isn't from far beyond the sun, the enemy is right here, within the walls. Only the god of emptiness will survive us all. The arrow of Satan is drawn!"

Right from the opening notes of the scything "Fleischmann", this sense of impending horror is carved into the music. The brutal "Wayward Samaritan" is anything but merciful, while "Deader" is a truly morbid workout, and "Morbid Antichrist" summons the spirits of those two classic death metal outfits perfectly. By the time things reach an atomic conclusion on the evil rock'n'roll of "Chainsaw Lullaby", you'll have been sucked into BLOODBATH's unholy world forever.

There's an extra nasty layer on "The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn". This time, among the usual chainsaw riffs and blasts, the darkness of Blakkheim's words is also reflected in the addition of new guitarist Joakim Karlsson of Swedish black metal plague CRAFT. It's a step forward that's only given the band's already fearsome fangs extra rabid bite.

He's not the only extra face getting covered in gore. "Bloodicide" — quite literally meaning "The Killing Of Blood" — features a full house of British death metal guest stars, with CARCASS's Jeff Walker, BOLT THROWER/MEMORIAM singer Karl Willetts and CANCER's John Walker all lending their larynxes to the madness.

"It wasn't deliberately planned to be just british guests, but as it randomly turned out that way, it became a really cool feat!" laughs Blakkheim. "Nick [Holmes], Jeff, Karl and John are all legends respectively within the U.K. death metal scene and we're proud to bring them all together on our little old school soiree to tribute the days of old.

"There's no mitigating circumstances coming your way any time soon," he adds. "The world is a mad place full of darkness, horror, disease and terror! Hell on Earth is real and not just limited to fiction. The dark ages transcend all frontiers, ever present but yet unseen."

"The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn" track listing:

01. Fleischmann [03:38]
02. Bloodicide [04:56]
03. Wayward Samaritan [03:39]
04. Levitator [04:37]
05. Deader [04:06]
06. March Of The Crucifers [04:05]
07. Morbid Antichrist [04:05]
08. Warhead Ritual [03:38]
09. Only The Dead Survive [05:06]
10. Chainsaw Lullaby [03:20]

Bonus tracks on limited-edition CD

11. Ride The Waves Of Fire [03:48]
12. Wide Eyed Abandon [05:00]

The cover artwork was created by Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, SOULFLY, ICED EARTH) and can be seen below.

This weekend BLOODBATH plays Germany's Summer Breeze festival before they lay waste to stages across Europe in November and December as they join KREATOR, DIMMU BORGIR and HATEBREED on the "European Apocalypse" tour.

Photo by Steve Brown

Pas mal ce titre et j'aime vraiment bien le growl de Holmes !

Il y a un fond de vieux Entombed. Bien Old School.
C'est un all-star band qui se permet de virer Ackerfeld et Swanö quand même, et vu ceux qui restent, cela ne peut pas être mauvais.

Et Tagtgren aussi!

mais ouiiiiiii un peu de bon death parmi tout ces bons Lp de techno death , ça repose son Eternel

Écouté 2 fois aujourd'hui. Ça passe bien en télétravail aussi.

Guitarist Joakim Karlsson Quits Bloodbath



Craft’s Joakim Karlsson has ended his brief tenure with the all-star death metal band Bloodbath. Karlsson joined the band as a guitarist just last year, in time for the creation of their latest album, The Arrow of Satan is Drawn. In a statement released over the weekend, however, Karlsson announced his departure from the group, humbly admitting that he can’t “pull off these fast, evil solos” required of Bloodbath’s lead guitarist. He also seems pretty stoked on being able to give Craft more of his attention.

Here’s Karlsson’s statement:

“I am putting away my Bloodbath vest for good.

“To be honest, I’ve never really considered myself a guitarist – at least not a particularly good one – just someone who plays guitar out of necessity because I wouldn’t be able to write my music otherwise. Bloodbath needs a lead guitarist; someone who can pull off these fast, evil solos and whatnot, and to be completely honest, that guy simply isn’t me. Bloodbath needs someone who can do it justice.

“I have had pretty much only good moments with the band, and I’m glad to have been a part of it for the last year and a half, but now I’ll do other things. (I vaguely remember having a main band which hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves during the last year. I think I’ll focus on that for a while.) Alright… Later, Bloodbath fans. I hope I at least managed to trick some of you into listening to Craft.

“By the way, some of you were making guesses about what songs I wrote for TAOSID. I wrote ‘Wayward Samaritan’ (music/lyrics), ‘Only the Dead Survive’ (music, together with former Craft guitarist John Doe), ‘Ride the Waves of Fire’ (music/lyrics) and ‘Wide Eyed Abandon’ (music).”

Si Bloodbath ont pas encore trouvé de remplaçant y a ce gars-là qui joue vite, bien et ivol

Il parle du dernier album uniquement ou du reste de la discographie du groupe?
Et dans le premier cas de figure: qui les a joués, ces soli, si lui ne peut pas?

J'imagine que c'est Blakkheim ? (j'avais souvenir qu'il en jouait quelques-uns sur Nightmares made Flesh)