Band:	Bloodbath
Album:	Grand Morbid Funeral
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	November 17, 2014
Guest review by:	Lit.

01. Let The Stillborn Come To Me
02. Total Death Exhumed
03. Anne
04. Church Of Vastitas
05. Famine Of God's Word
06. Mental Abortion
07. Beyond Cremation
08. His Infernal Necropsy
09. Unite In Pain
10. My Torturer
11. Grand Morbid Funeral

Old school sucks. New school is the way to go.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about why this album is a decent tribute to the old-school of hip-hop death metal.

Death metallers Bloodbath make no secret their love for the bands that laid the groundwork for every metalhead's mandatory favorite genre of death metal, specifically that of the Swedish variety. Resurrection Through Carnage brought to mind the classic Entombed-style distorted guitars. Nightmares Made Flesh was much more clean and polished, but remained brutal, catchy, and heavy with the Swedish influences meeting a more? Florida style? I don't know. Let's just call it Swedish.

So where does Grand Morbid Funeral fall? Well, in neither really. If anything, it sounds more old-school than the previous albums. It brings to mind less of Entombed and the like, and more so of God Macabre or those of the death/doom variety like Winter and early Paradise Lost. There's nothing remotely death/doom about the album, but the vibe it gives off rivals that. Must be due to the inclusion of Paradise Lost vocalist Nick Holmes. No idea why they hired the guy; there are much better vocalists out there that can replicate the old-school sound with much more gusto. He caught us by (a very unpleasant) surprise and left no expectations for the quality of the record with his growling leaving much to be desired despite the fact that they normally should be the band's backbone*. That, right there, is the album's main flaw (at first): the vocals just cannot stand up to the rest of the album, mix-wise, quality-wise and otherwise. Musically, it's otherwise fine, if not stronger than their previous, lackluster offering The Fathomless Mastery.

Thankfully, while they can't compare to the likes of old masters like Åkerfeldt or Tägtgren, you can (and I mean can, as in there's a good chance you won't) become accustomed to his vocals, and they somehow suit themselves to the music after listening to about half the album, empowering the old-school vibe to a front. It starts merging with the music that remains very strong and very Bloodbath-style, and after a while, you don't care about the separation in audibility. You don't care about how completely ill-fitting the band's decision to hire Holmes was. You just care about the fact that you have a nice, solid offering of death metal. After all the pieces fall into place, you've got a fine dedication to the death metal days of old.

Now go and pray to whatever deity you worship that Bloodbath will do a tribute to the new wave of cavernous death metal that we all love.

Highlights: "Let The Stillborn Come To Me", "Church Of Vastitas", "Grand Morbid Funeral"

*Coming from a guy who has virtually no experience with Paradise Lost. He can't really speak for those who are familiar with his voice, whether it has affected said band for better or for worse.