Bloodbath

Odd how when there’s a line-up change in a super group, there’s another famous dude joining the fray. Such is the case with Swedish old school death metal revivalists Bloodbath, who have lost Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt, but replaced him with Hypocrisy’s Peter Tagtgren. And it’s a bit mean to call them revivalists, because even though Nightmares Made Flesh contains no shortage of buzz saw guitars and creepy early-’90s death metal vibes, it’s also completely legitimate in its own right, and far better than what most of their peers in modern death metal are churning out. With the right amount of mid-tempo crawling and speedy riffs galore, Bloodbath pull this off with ease, probably writing this stuff in their sleep. And there’s not much more to say, as it’s straight-up death metal done with old school spirit and a bit of modern smarts, delivered by a gaggle of guys who clearly love the genre.