Bloodbath

The birth of a super group

It was founded by two constant members of the Katatonia group, namely Jonas Renks and Anders Nyuström , as well as Dan Svanё , who was also seen in the ranks of the above group, but better known by Edge Of Sanity and Mikael Okerfeldt (known to the public by his group Opeth and also working at Katatonia on vocals in 1996-1997 ) in 1999 .

Already from the first EP , called Breeding Death and released in 2000 , it became clear that the sound of the new formation has nothing to do with the music of the bands in which the musicians play. Initially, responsibilities among the group members were distributed as follows:

• Michael Okerfeldt - vocals
• Jonas Renx - Bass
• Anders Nyustrom - guitar
• Dan Swanyo - drums

The music of the band was the quintessential Swedish death metal with a hard growl , which made the music even awesome, but nonetheless all this only favorably influenced the opinion of critics.

Thus, over the course of two years, they record new material for their first full-length album, the main themes of which were (and remain to this day) cruelty, violence, blasphemy, death and other horrors. It was called Resurrection Through Carnage and was released on November 25, 2002 via Century Media , and was very warmly received by critics and fans of the genre.

Change of composition and second album

But despite the success of the first album and the growing popularity of the group, Michael Okerfeldt leaves the group in 2004 to focus on his main group Opeth . Left without a vocalist, the group almost immediately takes Peter Tagtgren to this place, who is no less known to the world for the groups Hypocrisy and Pain . His participation brought something special to the group, along with growling appeared characteristic for him screaming , which significantly distinguished vocals and partly music from the previous two releases.

Just at that time, Dan Swanoe switched to the second guitar, and Martin Axenroth, known for the Witchery , Satanic Slaughter , and now playing in the band Michael Opeth, was taken to replace the ram. The second album was released in September 2004 and was called Nightmares Made Flesh . The progression of the group was noticed on it, all the more so now becoming a quintet , it finally became not a temporary project of musicians, but a full-fledged group.

Wacken Open Air 2005 and New Losses

Nevertheless, in February 2005, Peter announced his resignation due to “conflicting schedules,” but in August 2005, Michael Okerfeldt again joined the group, but only to perform at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany, the only concert that the musicians gave this year, he in the future entered the DVD , released already in the 2008th year. After this concert, his black ES S-88AN guitar, made specially to order for him, was stolen from Blackheim and was never found.

In September 2005, the team continued to search for a vocalist . But the problems did not end there. In August 2006, another of the founders leaves the group, namely Dan Swanyo . Although his departure from BLOODBATH was rather controversial. The group stated that it had to part with the musician, motivating both with musical disagreements and his great employment in other projects, but Svanё not only did not confirm, but almost completely refuted the insanity of the group. According to him, Blackheim himself sent an e-mail to him , informing them that they no longer need his services, the multi-instrumentalist himself did not take this hostilely, saying only: “I wish the guys all the best and hope that they are polite they will ask me permission to play my stuff live for you . ” ^[1] Thus, the group was left without a second guitarist, in addition, a suitable vocalist was still not found.

Second Coming and Recording New Material

On March 27, 2007, the group announced that the line-up was still understaffed, but they were working on new material and plan to release a mini-CD by the end of the summer, but this did not happen. In August 2007 , Jonas Renxe dispelled all rumors at the group’s official forum and announced that work was in progress.

On January 30, 2008 , a message was posted on the band’s official website stating that Michael Okerfeldt was back in the band and was ready to continue work on new material. Along with him was also adopted the new second guitarist Per Ericsson, who managed to play in the groups of 21 Lucifers and Genocrush Ferox , and who had previously worked as a technician in BLOODBATH and Katatonia . In this composition, they first finish and publish in spring EP Unblessing The Purity . Regarding his return and recording of new material, Michael stated the following:

“I slightly“ mentioned ”the return, but now I definitely do not regret it. It’s clear that I’m busy all the time with my family and Opeth , so don’t tune into mass tours, BUT I really believe that we will give separate concerts when the time is right. I was asked to sing on the four track “Unblessing the Purity” when the guys worked on it, and I said that it was the best death metal I’ve heard since Domination. I didn’t even take into account the degree of my personal participation, but simply did what they wanted from me, and it sounds very good! Also, perhaps we will record another album sometime later ... "

And, by the middle of autumn, the long-awaited new album The Fathomless Mastery , which had been expected for almost 4 years, saw the light of day. In the same year, the group released a 2005 concert on Wacken Open Air on DVD and CD , called The Wacken Carnage . On this occasion, the group released the following statement:

“Finally, our first and only concert rose from the dead just like zombies from horror movies do - on April 21, the CD“ DVD The Wacken Carnage ”is released on Candlelight Records. Three years have passed since the moment this show took place, but you have nothing to fear - when the group was just founded, we were in great shape and the concert went just fine, there will be another reason to remember those nice days and once again make sure that the real death metal does not age ”

On January 17, 2009 , the group published the following announcement:

“Together with director Owe Lingwall and Village Road Film, we finished shooting the first official video in the history of the team for the track 'Hades Rising', which was included in the new BLOODBATH album 'The Fathomless Mastery'. The team’s video was shot in Vallentuna, near Stockholm, which is full of headbanging, blood, chaos and real kid metal! The rest of the plot was shot in Umeå, where the footage will be edited in the next four weeks. So wait for the real diabolical video. It will destroy thousands of souls! ”

The last two releases and DVDs were released on Peaceville Records , while the remaining releases were released on Century Media .

In late February, the group announced that until 2010 the group would not conduct any concerts or tours, due to the employment of Michael and Martin in Opeth , and after a short search, they decided not to look for a replacement for the concerts and decided to suspend concert activity. ^[2]

April 14, 2012 Michael officially left the group.

On September 16, 2014, Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost was announced the new vocalist of the group.

November 17, 2014 the group releases an album with a new vocalist - Grand Morbid Funeral.

Current squad

• Jonas Renx - Bass ( 1999 -)
• Anders Nyustrom ("Blakkheim") - guitar , backing vocals ( 1999 -)
• Martin Axenroth ("Ax") - drums ( 2004 -)
• Per Ericsson ("Sodomizer") - Guitars ( 2008 -)
• Nick Holmes ("Old Nick") - vocals ( 2014 -)

Left Group

• Peter Tagtgren - vocals ( 2004 - 2005 )
• Dan Swanyo - drums ( 1999 - 2004 ), guitar, backing vocals ( 2004 - 2006 )
• Michael Okerfeldt - vocals ( 1999 - 2004 , 2005 (for one performance) , 2008 - 2012 )

Michael Okerfeldt

• Opeth - core group (vocals and guitars) ( 1991 -)
• Steel - a project created for fun along with Dan Svanyo (guitars) ( 1996 - 1998 ) (split up)
• Eruption - the first band to break up in 1991 (guitars)

Jonas Renx

• Katatonia - main group ( 1987 - 1998 - vocals, drums, bass, keyboards) (since 1998 vocals and session keyboards and guitars) ( 1987 -)
• October Tide - death-doom project, (vocals and guitars - the first album and guitars - the second) ( 1995 - 1999 )
• Ayreon - guest vocalist for the 2008 album "01011001" , one of the songs sung by growl

Anders Blackheim Nyustrom

• Katatonia - main group (guitars, backing vocals and keyboards) ( 1987 -)
• Diabolical Masquerade - black metal project (all instruments and vocals) ( 1993 -) (hiatus)
• Bewitched - one of the founders, left in 1997 (guitars)
• Throne Of Ahaz - Session Guitarist

Martin Axenroth

• Witchery - main group (drums) ( 2000 -)
• Opeth - the second main group (drums) ( 2006 -)
• Nephenzy Chaos Order - group disintegrated in 2006 (drums)
• Nifelheim - session drums in 1999 - 2000
• Triumphator - one of the founders, left in 1997 , performed under the pseudonym Skeleton (drums) ( 1995 - 1997 )
• Morgue - death metal band (drums)
• Satanic Slaughter - extreme metal band with occult lyrics (drums) ( 1998 - 2006 )

Per Sodomizer Ericsson

• 21 Lucifers - main band since 2007 (bass)
• Komotio - metalcore band (drums) ( 2000 -)
• Genocrush Ferox - death metal band (guitars) ( 1997 - 2001 ) (split up)

Peter Tagtgren

• Hypocrisy - main group (lead guitar, vocals, keyboards) ( 1990 -)
• Pain - the second main group (all instruments and vocals) ( 1996 -)
• The Abyss is a black metal project created by Hypocrisy members (guitars, drums, bass and vocals) (1994-1998)
• Lock Up - a grindcore group founded by members of Napalm Death (vocals) ( 1999 ) (hiatus)
• War - side project of members of Ophthalamia , Dark Funeral and Hypocrisy (drums) (split up)
• Sorhin - session drums in 1996 (hiatus)
• Marduk - Black Metal Band (Guitars) ( 1997 )
• Dellamorte - death metal band from the Avesta (vocals) ( 1993 - 1999 )
• Algaion - Atmospheric black metal band playing drums
• Lindemann is a metal project formed on January 4, 2015 by Till Lindemann and Peter Tagtgren

Dan Swanyo

• Edge Of Sanity - main group until 2004 (all instruments and vocals) ( 1989 -) (hiatus)
• Nightingale - main group (vocals, guitars and keyboards) ( 1995 -)
• Demiurg - the second main group (lead guitar and keyboards) ( 2006 -)
• Pan.Thy.Monium - the main group until the breakup in 1996 (bass and keyboards) ( 1990 - 1996 )
• Diabolical Masquerade - Black metal project of Blackheim (drums and keyboards) ( 1998 - 2004 ) (hiatus)
• Katatonia - the main group of Renx and Nystrom (keyboards in 1992 - 1993 ) (drums in 1999 )
• Frameshift - progressive rock / metal band (vocals)
• Godgory - session musician and producer (split up)
• Brain Dedd - a band that broke up in 1990 (drums and vocals) ( 1988 - 1990 ) (split up)
• Godsend is a Norwegian doom metal band that broke up in 1998 (vocals and keyboards) ( 1991 - 1998 ) (split up)
• Incision - disintegrated death metal band
• Infestdead - anti-Christian death metal band, founder (guitars, bass and drums) ( 1994 - 1999 ) (split up)
• Karaboudjan - a project where Dan is the only musician
• Maceration - vocals and keyboards, left the band, broke up in 1992
• Masticate - guitars, bass and vocals, broke up in 1991
• Odyssey - prog metal band (vocals, drums and keyboards) (hiatus)
• Darkcide - group of Infestdead members, unknown status
• Overflash - one of the founders, left the group in 1996 ( 1986 - 1996 )
• Ribspreader - death metal band, left in 2005 (solo guitar) ( 2004 - 2005 )
• Route Nine - prog metal band, founder (guitars, vocals, bass and keyboards) (split up)
• Steel - a project created for fun along with Michael Okerfeldt (vocals) ( 1996 - 1998 ) (split up)
• Total Terror - project of the participants of Edge Of Sanity (guitar and vocals) ( 1993 , 2009 )
• Unicorn - prog rock band (vocals, drums, session bass and saxophone) ( 1988 -)
• Sorskogen - unknown status
• Obliterhate - Status Unknown
• Stygg Död - thrash metal band, status unknown
• Another Life - drums and keyboards, left the band

Nick Holmes

• Paradise Lost - core group, vocals (1988 -)

EP

• Breeding death ( 2000 )
• Unblessing The Purity ( 2008 )

Full Albums

• Resurrection Through Carnage ( 2002 )
• Nightmares Made Flesh ( 2004 )
• The Wacken Carnage [live album] ( 2008 )
• The Fathomless Mastery ( 2008 )
• Grand Morbid Funeral (2014)
• The Arrow of Satan is Drawn (2018)

DVD

• The Wacken Carnage ( 2008 )
• Bloodbath Over Bloodstock ( 2011 )

• Official site
• Encyclopaedia Metallum Band Page and Discography
• Discography and lyrics of the band at Metal Library