Bloodbath is a Swedish

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

supergroup from

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, formed in 1998. The band has released six full-length albums, two EPs and two DVDs depicting their performances at

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

(in 2005) and

Bloodstock Open Air Bloodstock Open Air is a British heavy metal festival held annually at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, since 2005. Originally held indoors for one day with two stages, the festival started in 2001 at the Derby Assembly Rooms and ...

(in 2010). The group consists of

Martin Axenrot Erik Martin "Axe" Axenrot (born 5 March 1979 in Linköping, Linköping, Sweden) is a Swedish death metal drummer, best known as the former drummer for progressive metal band Opeth (2005-2021). Since 2004, he is the drummer for Bloodbath. Know ...

(ex-

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk music, folk, blues, classical music, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from deat ...

Anders Nyström Anders Nyström (born 22 April 1975), also known as Blakkheim (or formerly Blackheim), is a Swedish musician, best known as a founding member of Katatonia and Bloodbath alongside Jonas Renkse. Career Nyström founded the Swedish metal band K ...

(ex-

Katatonia Katatonia is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for their love of death metal. Increasing popularity ...

) and

Nick Holmes Nicholas John Arthur Holmes (born 7 January 1971) is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the gothic metal/doom metal band Paradise Lost and Swedish death metal supergroup Bloodbath. Biography Holmes formed Paradise Lost in l ...

(

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

History

The band named themselves after the song "Blood Bath" from the album '' To the Gory End'' by extreme metal band

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. The initial lineup consisted of

Mikael Åkerfeldt Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)Mikael Åkerfeldt
, Op ...

(

) on vocals,

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and ...

(

Edge of Sanity Edge of Sanity was a Swedish death metal band that, alongside Opeth, is commonly regarded as being the first to fuse extreme metal styles like death metal, death and black metal with progressive rock. The group was founded by Dan Swanö in 1989 ...

Nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, ...

) on drums, Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (

Diabolical Masquerade Diabolical Masquerade was a Swedish one-man black metal band with progressive influences. The band was formed in 1993 in Stockholm as side project of Anders Nyström (aka Blakkheim), known for his work as the guitarist of Katatonia. History Di ...

) on guitar, and

Jonas Renkse Jonas Petter Renkse (born 19 May 1975) is a Swedish musician in the bands Katatonia (1991–) as lead vocalist, founder, songwriter (1991–1994, 1997–) and formerly as drummer (1991–1994, 1996–1998); formerly in Bloodbath Bloo ...

(Katatonia,

October Tide October Tide is a Swedish death-doom band that was created in 1994 by Katatonia vocalist Jonas Renkse and guitarist Fred Norrman. Norrman revived the band after leaving Katatonia in 2009. History 1995–1999 October Tide's debut album, ' ...

) on bass. Bloodbath released the EP ''

Breeding Death Bloodbath is a Swedish death metal supergroup from Stockholm, formed in 1998. The band has released six full-length albums, two EPs and two DVDs depicting their performances at Wacken Open Air (in 2005) and Bloodstock Open Air (in 2010). The g ...

'' within a year of forming. The EP was written within two days of the band forming. Nystrom said, "that just shows that if you are with a like-minded bunch of people who all have their history within death metal, all are capable with their instruments, then of course you can knock out professional death metal in no time at all." The band's debut EP was followed two years later by their debut album '' Resurrection Through Carnage''. In 2004, Åkerfeldt left Bloodbath, wanting to free up more time for his primary band Opeth, with

Peter Tägtgren Alf Peter Tägtgren (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pain in which he is the only m ...

(

Hypocrisy Hypocrisy is the practice of feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not. The word "hypocrisy" entered the English language ''c.'' 1200 with the meaning "the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness". Today, "hypocrisy" ofte ...

) being brought in to replace him. The lineup changed further, with Swanö switching to guitar and

(

Witchery Witchery is a Swedish blackened thrash/speed metal band formed by former members of Satanic Slaughter in 1997. The current lineup consists of guitarists Patrik Jensen and Rickard "Rille" Rimfält, bassist Sharlee D'Angelo, vocalist Angus Norde ...

Satanic Slaughter Satanic Slaughter was a Swedish black metal band. History Having previously performed under the name Evil Cunt, the group first adopted the name Satanic Slaughter in 1985.Nightmares Made Flesh'', was released in Europe in September 2004. In February 2005, Tägtgren left the band citing "conflicting schedules". That same year, Åkerfeldt rejoined for a single live show at Germany's

on 5 August. The band was quoted as saying, prior to the upcoming show, that it would be "Not only the first, but also the last gig for Bloodbath (with Mikael Åkerfeldt on vocals)". It would later turn out to also be the last show with Swanö. In September 2005, Bloodbath began searching for a new lead singer. In August 2006, the band announced the departure of Swanö due to musical differences, as well as Swanö being busy with other projects. They simultaneously closed the vocal auditions, announcing that no suitable singer had been found. On 27 March 2007, the band announced that a new line-up would be unveiled, along with news that they were producing new material, to be released that summer. In August 2007, Renkse posted on the band's official forums, suggesting that work was in progress. On 30 January 2008, it was announced via the Bloodbath website that Åkerfeldt would be rejoining the line-up on vocals, along with new member Per Eriksson (ex-21 Lucifers, ex-Genocrush Ferox) on guitar. In March 2008, the EP '' Unblessing the Purity'' was released. Also released in 2008 was the Wacken live CD/DVD ''

The Wacken Carnage ''The Wacken Carnage'' is a CD/DVD set of death metal band Bloodbath at a very rare live appearance recorded on 5 August 2005 at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. At that time, this live appearance was presented as the only Bloodbath show t ...

''. Bloodbath released their third full-length album, '' The Fathomless Mastery'', in October 2008. On 25 April 2011, Bloodbath released their second DVD, '' Bloodbath over Bloodstock'', containing their performance at Bloodstock Festival 2010, as well as the 2008 performance at Party San. On 1 November 2011, during the final show of the American Opeth/Katatonia tour at

Rams Head Live! Nevermore Hall (formerly Rams Head Live!) is an indoor music venue, club, and bar located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Located in the Power Plant Live! district of downtown Baltimore, the venue was surrounded by several other bars a ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, Bloodbath performed a surprise encore after Opeth's set. On 14 April 2012, Blakkheim announced that Åkerfeldt had officially left the group. When asked whether the new vocalist was known or not, Blakkheim was quoted saying "Oh, he's a legend!". On 16 September 2014, the band announced the new vocalist as

from

. On 12 April 2025, Blakkheim announced that Renske had left Bloodbath in 2023.

Artistry

Guitarist Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström explained the band's composition process: "There has always been a lot of spontaneity with Bloodbath. The whole project was formed over two days, while we also recorded our first EP reeding Deathin that time. ..We like things to be rapid; it keeps the magic going. If you just sit there and drag things out, you are going to lose interest in everything and you’re not going to maintain that kick-ass vibe. Knock it out fast and no regrets." The band uses the

Boss HM-2 The Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal is a distortion pedal manufactured by Boss Corporation, Boss from October 1983 until October 1991. Designed to emulate a Marshall Amplification, Marshall Guitar amplifier#Stacks, stack, it became associated with Swedish ...

to achieve its guitar tone.

Members

Current members

* Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström – guitars, backing vocals (1998–present) * Martin "Axe" Axenrot – drums, percussion (2004–present) * Nick "Old Nick" Holmes – lead vocals (2012–present) *Tomas "Plytet" Åkvik – guitar (2022–present; session 2017–2022)

Session members

*Niklas Sandin – bass (2018–present) *Waltteri Väyrynen – drums, percussion (2018–present)

Former members

* Jonas "Lord Seth" Renkse – bass, backing vocals (1998–2023) *

Mikael Åkerfeldt Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)Mikael Åkerfeldt
, Op ...

– lead vocals (1998–2004, 2005–2012) *

– drums, percussion (1998– 2004), guitars (2004–2006), backing vocals (1998– 2006) * Per "Sodomizer" Eriksson – guitars (2007–2017) *

– lead vocals (2004–2005) * Joakim Karlsson – guitars (2018–2019)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Resurrection Through Carnage'' (2002) * '' Nightmares Made Flesh'' (2004) * '' The Fathomless Mastery'' (2008) * '' Grand Morbid Funeral'' (2014) * ''

The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn ''The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish death metal band Bloodbath, released on 26 October 2018 via Peaceville. It is the only album to feature guitarist Joakim Karlsson. Background and release In a 2017 interview w ...

'' (2018) * ''Survival of the Sickest'' (2022)

EPs

* ''

'' (2000) * '' Unblessing the Purity'' (2008)

Live albums

* ''

'' (2005) * '' Bloodbath over Bloodstock'' (2011)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloodbath Musical groups established in 1998 Swedish death metal musical groups Swedish musical quartets Swedish musical quintets Century Media Records artists Heavy metal supergroups Musical groups from Stockholm 1998 establishments in Sweden