Entry 354 - Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral

 

When Bloodbath announced that they had a new vocalist not long before the release of this album I wasn't sure what to think. The Fathomless Mastery was one of the best death metal albums to come out in recent memory, and Mikael's vocals were a large part of my enjoyment of the album.

When they revealed that the vocalist was Nick Holms from Paradise Lost I was skeptical at best. The dude hadn't growled in nearly 20 years. I had a lot of skepticism going into this album... I'm glad that every single point of concern was completely washed away within a single song.

To say that Grand Morbid Funeral is as good as The Fathomless Mastery is a bit disingenuous. The two albums are so incredibly different in style that its hard to do a direct comparison to the two of them. The more apt comparison for this album would be the Resurrection Through Carnage.

Bloodbath went back to being a early 90's death metal tribute band with Grand Morbid Funeral. The guitars have that signature buzz-saw sound, there is barely any a blast beat to be found on the entire album, and the vocals have that nasty ass filthy snarl to them that is so befitting of the music.

God damn does Nick sound good on this album. This really isn't anything like his old growl from Gothic, or even from Shades of God. This is something a bit different, a bit more intentionally venomous... something that simply kicks the listeners ass.

A few years down the line I can honestly say that this is my second favorite Bloodbath album. It kicks so much ass... no fucks are given. The band just is having fun. Listen to Anne, and tell me that song does not kick all the ass in the world... Yeah, it's just too good.