ALBUM REVIEW: Bloodbath – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn

Here is my review for the new album from Swedish Death Metal titans BLOODBATH. Set for release with Peaceville Records on the 26th of October. This is a very exciting release to many Metalheads, I am no exception, bring it on!

1. Fleischmann kicks in with blasting drum chaos and muddy HM-2 soaked tremolo guitar riffs, the bleak drawn out notes soon break the mix up before hammering out pure Swedish Death Metal grooves and some of the most dark Bloodbath material that has a sort of blackened touch to it. The song is somewhat dissonant which works nicely with the intense rawness of the sounds, the vocals are absolutely glorious with such a primal hatred in them and the whole instrumental section is just perfectly synchronised. The lead sections are melodically soulful over the crawling doomy riffs and the whole atmosphere of this opening song is both aggressive and melancholic but in perfect ballad. A great start!
2. Bloodicide is a prime cut of meaty Swedish Death Metal glory, rampant in guitar and tone and pummelling on drums with tons of great guest vocal performances (including Karl Willets, John Walker and Jeff Walker). The song is crushingly brutal with a really nice upbeat, catchy approach to the structure. Drawn out leads bring the atmospherics up and it feels like nothing has been forgotten, in fairness Bloodbath have had enough practise. A really perfect example of why the Swedes have topped the genre for so long. Total headbang worthy madness, loved this track and the lead guitar riffs over the groovy rhythm sections were perfect!
3. Wayward Samaritan has a really nice old school Heavy Metal feel to the riffs but still distortion riddled to give it the bombastic Death Metal tone the Swedish are so great at. The more upbeat, almost Death n Roll vibe of the song is absolutely awesome, plentifully groovy and full of attack that is ever present but taking more of a backseat by reducing the full on speeds of the music. This song from the guitars to the drums and vocals all just completely tear you a new one with so much ferocious and grimy extreme beauty. Another absolutely killer piece with some awesome lyrics. The ending was so doomy which I loved… Gorgeous!
4. Levitator brings us back in with sampled and eerie ambience that lasts only a second before dropping into absolutely orgasmic Death-Doom riffing that is just so tightly wound into this groovy and grisly grind. The verse comes in nicely with the opening riff still ringing in my ears. Melodic stampeding Death Metal full of strength is what you get with this piece. Some absolutely classic and fantastic new music from Bloodbath that takes a much darker tone than previous albums to my ear. The blasting assault from the whole band is unmistakable though, with killer songwriting and brilliant tones. Some gorgeous shreds break the song up nicely over the intro riff (which I am still in love with). This song was absolutely epic, it is quite possibly a new favourite Bloodbath song for me!
5. Deader has a real NWOBHM vibe to the opening riffs before descending into chaos beautifully. The ecstatic violence of the music that the band have repeatedly delivered over the years is still standing with incredibly strength, the forceful riffs hitting like bricks. The marching pace of this song with some cool licks thrown in is so catchy and absolutely head bang worthy. The blackened touches add rich and intense atmospherics but still not stepping down from brutality with the crushing riffs, blast beats and guttural vocals. There are also some awesome thrashy elements to this song too, Bloodbath seem to be managing to get some of everything in here, most importantly they make it all work very well! There are some epic old school whammy dives too followed by tasteful shredding. Really great work on the structure of this. Some much more melodic material here, brilliant stuff!
6. March Of The Crucifers fires right into sludgy riffs that have so much distortion, sounding absolutely epic. The crashing drums punctuate things beautifully before the precision based grooves come in with some tasty pinch harmonics. This song immediately packs such a punch and just grinds along with such a familiarity while being entirely new to me. This is going to be some great mosh pit fuel, I am glad I will be seeing them again on their tour (with Kreator, Dimmu Borgir and Hatebreed). The upbeat, storming blast of the song is absolutely furious and so in your face you just have to love it. This track has such a great strength to it! The song has a march to it I mentioned before which is so fitting to the title! Fantastic!
7. Morbid Antichrist comes in beautifully with some nice melody before going into huge riffing madness followed by epic drums and grisly bass that all comes together into this massive grinding assault. There are certainly a lot more elements and influences of Black Metal on their newer material, while before Death Metal tonally I can certainly here some of the more atmospheric elements they have borrowed and think they work really well. The riffs are incredibly catchy as is the chorus section, certainly one to shout along to in a live atmosphere! The lead work was absolutely killer, if brief, too! Awesomely done!
8. Warhead Ritual begins with ambience, setting an eerie mood and establishing that something intense will definitely follow. The Sci-Fi synths are really cool for sure. The guitar jumps right in joined shortly but drums allowing things to build nicely before dropping the full mix. Everything is so tight yet with the huge amounts of distortion has the gorgeous fuzz of proper Swedish Death Metal. The riffs are absolutely beautiful, total head banging fuel, I guess as a guitarist primarily I am biased to focus on the riffs first and foremost though, do not let that make you think I am ignoring anything though. The vocals hideously tear through the mix while the drums and bass gorgeously lay this intensely precise and solid foundation to the piece, really allowing it to be built and grown in a stunning way. This is some excellent musicianship and songwriting at play with killer production to match! The solo was short, simple but a lovely flourish in the song. Another superb track!
9. Only The Dead Survive is the longest track on the album, just over 5 minutes in length, which is still not extremely long for a song. Bringing us in with a 4 counts, in itself a nice old school way to begin, before the storming madness begins. The darker aggression of the song is absolutely mesmerising and really intensely structured, with such a convulsive attack to everything, absolutely awesome. Not only is this song written very well instrumentally and performed brilliantly but the lyrics are killer too! The section where it fades before coming back in with huge grooves is a great addition that breaks the momentum and then just re-summons it in excellent form. The military style snare with spoken parts sounds so good too, really epic piece of music right here. Awesome work with a really soulfully beautiful ending!
10. Chainsaw Lullaby sadly brings in the closure of this epic album. Beginning with some epic upbeat vibes and with plenty of grooving riffs, drums and awesome vocals hooks this song is a final chance to just rip through some awesome Death Metal fury. The way it is structures and paced is really catchy but also the song has some great atmospheric parts to it which work really nicely in the piece. There is a similar feel to the song to “KING” by Satyricon to me in the chorus which I thought was awesome. There are also some nice Taake vibes which is odd to get so much Black Metal reminiscence in a vehemently Death Metal band, but really cool all the same. A great ending to a consistency brilliant album featuring some nice horror samples!

This could be the darkest Bloodbath album yet! Fear not for change though, the trademark riffs, storming attack and guttural Death Metal is still all present just with a much bleaker vibe in parts. Absolutely epic, innovating but sticking true to the Swedish Death Metal formula at the same time. A must for the Death Metal fans! -8/10