Bloodbath ‘The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Peaceville Records – 2018 – Death Metal
When Bloodbath released their 2014 album ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’ with Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost replacing Mikael Åkerfeldt who once again left Bloodbath to concentrate on Opeth; none could predict the success and critical acclaim that the albums ‘The Plague Within’ and ‘Medusa’ would gather. This left fans of the death metal supergroup uneasy as to whether they were once again going to see a change of vocalist due to outside commitments. Fortunately for Bloodbath, that would not be the case and four years on, the band have released their second album with Holmes, ‘The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn’.
Once again, Bloodbath have released an album which stays true to the old school death metal formula that the band had originally set out to accomplish and unlike some bands which choose to stay well within this mould, Bloodbath have grown and in ‘The Arrow…’ it is possible to hear snippets of the more progressive elements of Opeth and Katatonia, which is hardly surprising considering the involvement of Jonas Renkse, Anders Nyström and Martin Axenrot. Furthermore, when compared to ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’, ‘The Arrow…’ features many of the repeating motifs which have played such a vital role in the recent Paradise Lost. However, it is not here that the album shines, tracks such as ‘’Warhead Ritual’, ‘Only The Dead Survive’ and the excellent ‘Morbid Antichrist’ are thoroughly enjoyable with the track ‘Chainsaw Lullaby’ possibly being one of the most tongue in cheek tracks since ‘Eaten’.
‘The Arrow…’ is relentless throughout and is once again, a thoroughly strong album from Bloodbath. However, this latest offering just doesn’t have that longing endearment that ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’ has, but that does not question the integrity of ‘The Arrow…’, this is a great album with the band not only playing and writing well but enjoying what they do. If it takes another four years for Bloodbath to release an album, then it is four years well spent listening to ‘The Arrow…’.
Rating : 80/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
