UMUR
"Survival of the Sickest" is the sixth full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Bloodbath. The album was released through Napalm Records in September 2022. It´s the successor to "The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn" from 2018 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Joakim Karlsson only stayed one album and has been replaced by Tomas Åkvik (who guested on "The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn" (2018)). It´s now the third album featuring Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) on lead vocals and he is therefore now the longest standing lead vocalist in Bloodbath. "Survival of the Sickest" features guest performances from scene veterans Mark "Barney" Greenway, Luc Lemay, and Marc Grewe.
"The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn" (2018) saw Bloodbath experiement a little with black metal elements and a slightly different atmosphere, but on "Survival of the Sickest" they have made a conscious decision to go back to their old school death metal roots and write an album in the original spirit of the band. And they certainly succeed in that because "Survival of the Sickest" is old school Swedish death metal to the core. Songtitles like "Zombie Inferno", "Putrefying Corpse", and "Malignant Maggot Therapy" definitely also signal that.
Despite often being put in the retro old school Swedish death metal catagory, Bloodbath actually have as many US death metal influences (Morbid Angel is for example a huge influence) in their music, so "Survival of the Sickest" is a relatively varied old school death metal release. Their style on "Survival of the Sickest" is somewhat reminiscent of Danish death metal act Baest, who also play a Swedish/US hybrid old school death metal style.
If you´re familiar with the preceding Bloodbath releases, it will come as no surprise that they are a skilled, tight, and well playing unit. Holmes have honed his growling skills over the last 10 years, and while he doesn´t sound like he did on the early 90s Paradise Lost releases, he has a strong voice and a powerful intelligible growling delivery. "Survival of the Sickest" also features a powerful, brutal, yet detailed sound production, so it´s another high quality release from Bloodbath. I wouldn´t call it their most remarkable release, but it´s still way above most other contemporary old school death metal releases in terms of catchy songwriting, musicianship, and production values. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
