Survival Of The Sickest NAPALM

Death metal thoroughbreds keep the infernal flames burning

Bloodbath: true death metal lifers

STORY ANGLES ABOUND with the emergence of Bloodbath’s sixth album. Themes pertaining to perseverance, time management, organisation and creative compartmentalisation are at work, but what stands out most is death metal’s enduring lure. Beginning as a side-project by dudes who grew up with, but slowly moved away from, death metal, Bloodbath have endured supergroup scepticism, line-up changes (while maintaining supergroup status) and being in the crosshairs of the US Visa system. What’s surfaced isn’t just a quintet of middle-aged gents cranking out violent vibrancy and shedding light on important topics like Malignant Maggot Therapy and Tales Of Melting Flesh, but a quintet unable to give up the ghost as they forge forward in the spirit of their teenage selves. Except with better gear, an exponentially improved skillset and some 30-odd years of experience.

Survival Of The Sickest is the third album with Paradise Lost’s Nick Holmes hanging off the mic stand and the first with Lik’s Tomas Åkvik churning on the six-strings alongside founding member Anders Nyström (Katatonia), and it’s off to the races the instant needle touches vinyl. Opener Zombie Inferno is a nitrous oxide burner possessing the brightness of Florida death metal-gone-thrash, while Putrefying Corpse imagines Swedeath played at land speed records. More pensive restraint is showcased in the horror soundtrack vibe of Dead Parade and stained glasssmasher No God Before Me, its mid-pace accented by cathedral-ceiling vocals.