Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral

So the big news about this album is a new vocalist, already originally conceived as a kind of supergroup, Bloodbath now herald Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost fame on lead vocals. Whilst it may be the case that the last twenty plus years Holmes has developed a nice relatively clean singing voice compared to the debut Paradise Lost effort, it’s certainly not a clean delivery here. This is perfectly balanced for the style of rotten death metal that this band produce. The six year wait between releases is more than worth the wait.

Technicality comes very easily here, whilst the speed fans amongst you won’t be disappointed with the likes of ‘Total Death Exhumed’ which stands alongside some of the greatest death metal songs written by comparison (by this I mean it has the same energy). Then you get to the slow gnarl of the closing title track ‘Grand Morbid Funeral’ that gives you shivers and eventually explodes into a frenzy of noise towards the end of the track to complete the release.  But for me, ‘Church of Vastitas’ stands out the most. These slow earthy riffs are cool, they are very nihilistic. I can’t help feeling that this features that little bit higher in my admiration than their last effort that I was a massive fan of (‘The Fathomless Mastery’). Not so much the vocal change, but I feel the music is a step in the direction I desire at this present time.  It would be quite easy to bullshit this album up and say it’s great just because of who it is etc., but this is genuinely a brutal effort and to be fair something that you should expect from a band of this calibre.

All in all, this is a really cool rotten, easy to digest release, it’s always a worry when you get line-up changes in the group; will the dynamic change? Will the style be messed around with? Well in answer to both of these questions I give you that this is a grand album indeed, you shall not regret this one.


  1. Let The Stillborn Come To Me  
  2. Total Death Exhumed  
  3. Anne  
  4. Church Of Vastitas  
  5. Famine Of God's Word  
  6. Mental Abortion  
  7. Beyond Cremation  
  8. His Infernal Necropsy  
  9. Unite In Pain  
  10. My Torturer  
  11. Grand Morbid Funeral