Bloodbath
Survival Of The Sickest

The Bloodbath are back in a big way with “Survival Of The Sickest,” the 2022 album of the year! The opening track “Zombie Inferno” is a Death Metal masterpiece, starting off quietly and then exploding with thrash metal-edged riffing and a perpetually menacing growl that makes you headbang back and forth. With “Putrefying Corpse,” it gets even better, if that's possible, with that murky riffing and a drum line that's a relentless, lightning-fast chase!

As in the following “Dead Parade,” the guitars draw always excellent melodic lines, but the entire album is permeated with an immediacy and expressive urgency that is terrifying. “Malignant Maggot Therapy” doesn’t slow down but rather accelerates their death metal with truly top-notch drum fills and winning, engaging riffs, as well as the solos.

“Carved” starts immediately with the singer’s cavernous voice and the repeatedly chanted refrain, “Carved! Carved! You Are Carved!” Here, the riffing becomes really head-banging and the solo doesn’t disappoint, being truly dark and fascinating. “Born Infernal,” as the programmatic title suggests, is an incredibly fast track. The singer's growl drives and smashes through everything in its path, the drums are a war machine, and the riffing is always gloomy, yet never lacking that melodic touch that distinguishes them.

“To Die” introduces more melodic parts thanks to the formidable guitar solos. The tempos here become almost doom but it’s always that damn fierce growl that takes the lead! In “Affliction Of Extinction,” we have the usual death bastardized with thrash that will delight every metalhead. Midway, it quickens to then give the listener a break with melodic solos and a riffing as sharp as a blade, another great track. We go back to heavy pounding with “Tales Of Melting Flesh,” featuring an inhuman growl and a great initial solo. The piece is really solid and fast; the solos follow each other rapidly and melodically, and the vocals become increasingly malicious and unhealthy.

“Envirocide” starts as the most powerful and fastest track of the lot and continues this way, led by cavernous and acidic growls, until halfway through the track where the usual melodic solo appears, before resuming the most brutal massacre with an ultra-fast Slayer-style solo. A great song, there's no denying, with a fade-out ending. The last track “No God Before Me” features an almost doom metal pace, a very melodic chorus, in short, a well-crafted piece that stands out amidst all the sonic putrefaction of pure death metal with a final chorus that always sings the title of the piece. The album’s production is clear and powerful, highlighting all the instruments well with the growl in the forefront without overpowering the instrumental part.

Then there's the beautiful cover of the album, truly well executed. Go listen to this album on headphones or your home stereo, you won't stay still for even a minute, thanks to the super fast soundscape and those nods to thrash metal riffing and the solos, some super fast, others more melodic, that complete a great album.

Terrifying!