Bloodbath released their last studio album, The Fathomless Mastery, in 2008, and last live effort, Bloodbath Over Bloodstock, 2011. Then they lost vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) in April of 2012 and disappeared. In a recent interview, the band reveal they have a new guy and an entire album ready to go!
So in an interview with El Cuartel Del Metal, the band's guitarist Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (Katatonia) said their new singer is "a part of a big band" and they won't reveal who he is without an audio clip of some new music because:
"…kids are too quick to judge a person on false parameters and we want to avoid a shitstorm full of doubts and confusion and rumors that we have nothing to back up our cause with. We want to let actual audio do the speaking for us and people are of course welcome to judge the effort and the performance how they please, but we don’t want to read misjudged and pre-conceived opinions about a name that they might claim won’t fit."
This has to be a pretty big deal if they're nervous about people hating them for who they've chosen. They've done a solid job on picking vocalists in the past, choosing both Åkerfeldt and Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Lock Up, Pain, etc.), so whoever it has to be pretty great. Nyström also said in the interview:
"Well it will be 2014 now, but the album will be our most 'necro' sounding album we’ve ever done. We’ve done the hi-fi and technical things now for a while that we just wanna turn 180 degrees and go for the low fi approach. Rotten dirty slabs of death metal from the basement! Organic! Raw! With the heaviness in focus, not the speed. I know there are tons of people who got into Bloodbath with our last album and not only wish, but even expect a straight follow-up with more of the same, but that won’t happen. It’s very liberating with Bloodbath that we can do exactly what we want and what we need without listening or caring about anyone’s opinion, neither labels, the media or fans. We are not afraid to not live up to expectations because we really don’t have to consider anything, there’s no “wrong step” in Bloodbath. This project is run by our gut feeling, nothing else. If the new album gets bad reviews and negative feedback it’s even logical in a way because we certaintly don’t expect that everyone will love it and be ready for this radical stiff turn. But we are and I’m sure some zombies are too!"
Color me excited! Nyström aso said along with the music, the band have chosen an album title and cover art.
