Bloodbath

What we have here is a vinyl pressing of this Serbian horde’s excellent second demo of the same name, ‘Toxic Death’. Bloodbath’s area of specialization, on this recording at least, was to create some of the most vicious, ripping death/thrash the underground had ever seen, and at that they succeeded. In certain ways, they remind me of a mixture of Morbid Saint’s ‘Spectrum of Death’ and Necrovore’s ‘Divus De Mortuus’, plus a little ‘Seven Churches’ tossed in for good measure. Although this was nothing original or groundbreaking considering it was originally recorded in 1989, a point in time where the death/thrash sound had been fully developed for a few years, that doesn’t make this any less of an awesome recording. The band’s blending of what was going on in certain areas of death and thrash metal at the time works very well, and the band really hits the nail on the head here, so to speak.

The production on here is expectantly the same as on the demo, meaning although it is audible, it’s still raw as all Hell, so pansies, I suggest you steer clear. There is a thick layer of fuzz and filth covering everything, but not to the point where it’s just white noise. The vocals are easy to distinguish amongst the thrashing cacophony, but there are times where they get a tad buried. The guitars are strange in the sense that one is very far back while the other is front and center, probably due to poor microphone placement (assuming they used at least one microphone). It’s easier to hear the second, more pushed back one during the solos, but that’s about it. The other guitar however is loud enough for the riffs to be heard clearly, so one being pushed back isn’t too much of a problem. The bass is hard to hear at times, but it does surface enough to supply the low-end it is intended to provide. The drums also hold a decent place in the mix, and although blurry at times, they are still audible, allowing the full-blown obliteration the band was going for to ensue effectively.

Structurally and compositionally, this band was not quite reinventing the wheel. However, that does not mean they didn’t know how to write some badass, spine-snapping, bowel-bursting death/thrash in the vein of the classics. A lot of times, they follow the thrash metal style of song intros, where the drums and everything else plays on the first count, then stop as the second, third and fourth counts are played by one of the guitarists, until the band all come in and blow the rehearsal space to smithereens. This formula isn’t over-done though, and they do spice it up from song to song. Once the songs get started, the endless onslaught of riffs and frantic drumming just envelop and mangle all in their vicinity, and are put together well enough to hold the interest of those who dare to listen, and in the end, that is what matters most.

One of the main death metal points of reference comes from Damjan’s vocal assaults. He utilizes a raspy, mid-range howl not far off from Necrovore’s Jon DePlachett, and fits the band’s sound perfectly. A deeper, more guttural growl would just simply sound out of place, which is a recognition the band made and avoided very well. The riffing alternates between more intricate, chromatic death metal riffs to frantic, palm-muted thrash riffs, creating a rather wide pallet for the band to work without ever falling into the realms of boredom. The guitar tone is very crunchy and ugly, and thick enough to compensate for the lack of the second guitar in the mix. The bass, when discernable, has a nice, contrasting clean tone, which is actually for the better given the raw nature of the recording, where as if it were distorted, then it would make just everything that much harder to hear. The drumming is tight and persistent, always keeping up with the guitars and bass and never losing sight of what is going on around them. He also knows how to add subtle variety to what might otherwise be a rather monotonous style of drumming by, for example, using things such as the bell on the ride cymbal for one measure, then going back to an open hi-hat for the second, then back to the bell, then hi-hat, etc. It’s simplistic, but it works very well.

‘Toxic Death’ is a great recording, and this vinyl pressing of it makes up for the fact that it’s damn near impossible to find an original tape of it. So if your ears have not been tainted by today’s ultra-crystal clear and pristine digital recordings and can handle old, raw relics from the glory days of the underground, then I highly, highly recommend hunting this gem down. However, if your ears have in fact been tainted and pussified, then, as I said earlier, steer clear from this one.