Bloodbath - The Wacken Carnage

Published July 15 2008

*=Staff's pick	Intro Cancer Of The Soul* So You Die Soul Evisceration* Ways To The Grave Ominous Bloodvomit Like Fire* Bastard Son Of God Breeding Death Outnumbering The Day Brave New Hell* Furnace Funeral* Eaten*

Genre	Death Metal	Mikael Åkerfeldt	Vocals
Tracks	13	Dan Swanö	Guitar
Runningtime	53 Min.	Anders Nyström	Guitar
Label	Peaceville Records	Jonas Renkse	Bass
Release	02 June 2008	Martin Axenrot	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	---

After spending many hours together with Bloodbath's live-album The Wacken Carnage, I become more and more jealous of those who were actually there and witnessed this historic moment at Wacken Open Air three summers ago. It's their first and so far only live appearance, which makes it so remarkable that there seem to be no nervousness or anxiety among the band members whatsoever, instead they just chew their way through an awesome repertoire with highlights such as the opener Cancer Of The Soul, the head banging-extravaganza Like Fire and the brutal closer Eaten.

Bloodbath started out as a side project, but has gradually established itself as one of the most important Swedish death metal-constellations. With members from highly respected bands like Opeth, Edge Of Sanity and Katatonia, one can easily understand why Bloodbath has been labelled "the elite of Swedish death metal". Along with the CD comes a neat DVD with the whole concert, and it's quite overwhelming to see all these musicians from such legendary bands performing on the same stage. A few things have happened since then; Dan Swanö has left the band, and so did vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt. The latter was replaced by Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) who then left, and Åkerfeldt rather surprisingly announced his return. The line-up listed above was however the one that performed on Wacken, and what a great job they did.

Those who know me well are aware of that I'm no particular fan of live-albums, which often feels rather pointless, but The Wacken Carnage is actually one of the better ones I've come across over the years. The ambitious DVD certainly helps, but the music stands firmly on its own. Bloodbath has made old school death metal with a great groove and dark melodies their distinguishing mark, and Mikael Åkerfeldt's abysmal vocals are amazing throughout the whole concert. Those who were disappointed that there wasn't that much growling on his other band's Opeth's latest album Watershed should definitely check out this one.

The Wacken Carnage is a must-have for the fans, and a great warm-up to the forthcoming studio album The Fathomless Mastery, due October 6th. Let us also cross our fingers and hope that the album will result in a tour, so that more people can see this terrific live-act alive and kicking.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
9	7	7	8	8

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Niklas