MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT Quits BLOODBATH

April 12, 2012

Vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH has left the death metal supergroup BLOODBATH. "They have a new singer, which I can't say who it is," Mikael tells Loudwire.

He continued, "BLOODBATH, for me, was never a serious project, it was just something I did for fun. We did a few songs on the last North American tour, we did two songs at the very last show [see video below. — Ed.] because we were touring with KATATONIA, so the whole BLOODBATH band was there. It's still fun, you know? But I think that some of the other guys in BLOODBATH want to take it to the next level, which I don't really want to do because I'm so busy anyways."

He added, "It doesn't really have to do with anything with my screaming vocals, it's just that it's not a progressive project for me. It's just paying tribute to death metal and I've done it for such a long time. And when it stops being fun, I don't really want to participate. We do things so rarely it's always been fun. The shows we've done have been fun, but I don't feel the need to do it."

BLOODBATH's concert DVD, "Bloodbath Over Bloodstock", came out in April 2011 via Peaceville Records. The deluxe mediabook-packaged set features BLOODBATH's August 2010 performance from the Bloodstock festival — one of the U.K.'s leading metal events — consisting of songs from the critically acclaimed "The Fathomless Mastery" (2008) album, as well as other classics and fan favorites. The full package also includes a 16-page booklet and a wealth of extras, featuring bonus footage taken from Germany's Party.San Open Air festival in 2008 and extensive band member interviews.

"Bloodbath Over Bloodstock" was filmed by The Dark Box, a U.K.-based production company that specializes in providing services for the music industry.

"The Fathomless Mastery", the most recent studio album from BLOODBATH, sold around 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD debuted at No. 45 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

BLOODBATH's lineup on "The Fathomless Mastery" was the same as that on BLOODBATH's "Unblessing the Purity" mini-CD, which came out in March 2008:

Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH) - Vocals
Martin "Axe" Axenrot (OPETH) - Drums
Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (KATATONIA) - Guitar
Jonas Renkse (KATATONIA) - Bass
Per "Sodomizer" Eriksson (ex-21 LUCIFERS, GENOCRUSH FEROX) – Guitar

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