Bloodbath, The Wacken Carnage

For those few of you that frequent the site on a regular basis, you’ve no doubt heard me bemoan my affliction toward live discs. I can’t seem to get enough of them, but the vast majority of live albums have sub-par recording and production. Would this, possibly one and only, live recording of Bloodbath be any different?

In a word (or two). Hell, yes! The CD portion of this package sounds as though it were recorded in a top notch studio over the course of a couple of months. The drums and bass stand out nicely. The guitars never drown our or dominate the rest of the band. Hell, the vocals can be heard perfectly. I mean, what more could a Bloodbath fan want? You’ve got the band live, performing with Akerfeldt. Just the way you want it.

If I did have one complaint it would be that of Akerfeldt’s banter between songs. Maybe it’s his accent or that he’s a little soft spoken, but I’ll be damned if I can consistently hear what he’s saying between gurgling bellows. That’s sort of a big hit against the album for me — half of the appeal of a live album is the crazy shit that any lead singer will spit out at any time. Admittedly, Akerfeldt keeps it simple, but his interaction with the crowd is that of a seasoned professional.

As for the DVD portion of this release, I’ve got no complaints. The filming is well done and the effects added in production are kept to a relative minimum, letting the performance speak for itself. Perhaps it’s the handling of the source material, but Akerfeldt is better heard on the DVD than the CD. Perhaps it’s the difference in speakers between the computer and the stereo.

At any rate, if you’re a Bloodbath fan and fear you’ll never be able to see the band in this incarnation again, then you abso-fucking-lutely need to pick up The Wacken Carnage. Now.