Originally written by Sasha Horn
“We’re filming tonight… They’re not gonna film you guys so much. They’re not gonna film the guys in the band so much. They’re gonna film me a lot.” I happen to enjoy Akerfeldt’s shtick, and he has his moments here on Bloodbath Over Bloodstock. Quoting from Lethal Weapon and crediting Danny Glover: “I’m getting too old for this shit”; addressing the young and impressionable: “Don’t get too fucking excited. For the younger kids in the crowd, it’s just make-up… I didn’t accidentally poke my fucking eyes out”; paying respect to his bandmates: “So we’re gonna play you a number from the very first full-length. This is a very very very stupid song. This first riff of this song is the most stupid riff you’ve ever heard in your life… And it’s so fuckin’ sweet”; and giving a bit of insight into the behind-the-scenes: “Back in 1999 we did this EP called Breeding Death. I remember I vomited just before I recorded my vocals… They came out pretty well I must say.”
A portion of what you’re paying for is Mikael’s smarmy ass. The other part, no matter the fraction it is to you, is the actual performance of the actual music, and the actual bonus material that I actually did not get. Seriously. The employfully-opinionated were granted only the twelve-song Bloodstock performance footage and no ‘bonus features’, which include five songs from their PartySan set in ’08, “extensive band member interviews”, and the less tragic loss, the “deluxe mediabook packaging with sixteen-page booklet”. When you take into account that all of the aforementioned is ‘standard issue’, and not some bratty, super-limited concoction, it ends up being a pretty lame situation; I’m getting less content than most of the globe. I can deal with not getting the wrapping-paper treatment, but swiping valuable, write-aboutable material from the DVD itself? Well that’s lame as fuck and just not very smart, so what I see is what you get. Nothing more. Nothing less.
And what I see is The Wacken Carnage release from ’08 – of Bloodbath’s first ever gig in 2005 – going head-to-head with this Bloodstock performance. Having only dropped three years prior and bringing the first legit visual documentation of this band to the world, it should be noted that Carnage was pretty damn decent, so onward with a game of compare/contrast. In terms of post-production and presentation, Bloodstock leaves much to be desired. It seems the camera crew and after-the-fact knob twiddling in ’05 was a bit more imaginative; swivel-cams, split-screen wizardry, etc., and without crossing that fine line into tacky territory. On the other hand, B.Bath on Bloodstock is pretty tame stuff; there was no exploratory camera’s eye on deck. But taking into account that this here gig is the first footage of their first ever UK appearance, second only professionally visually captured performance in the band’s history, eighth gig of their entire career, as well as the first licensed and distributed audio/video introduction to Per “Sodomizer” Eriksson (live guitarist; Katatonia) since joining the band in place of Dan Swano, I’d say the lot adds up to a must-have for Bloodbath superfans. If you’re not scrutinizing over the details, this boils down to five dudes on a stage, six years later, cranking out a homage to youth, and I can dig that. So with aesthetics and historical value aside and with more focus on the setlist, you’ll notice The Fathomless Mastery making itself known and Unblessing the Purity shy and in the shadows, but present.
Yes, I cried a little bit about having access to only the core of this release, i.e. the Bloodstock-only footage, which runs twelve tunes, clocks in at roughly forty-three minutes, and sees Nightmares Made Flesh take the heavyweight title dominating a third of the setlist, Resurrection Through Carnage and The Fathomless Mastery blazing in at a tie for second place, and the two EPs in their discography getting one pull each… Eh… It’s a fun ride through a Bloodbath general overview regardless. And although this offering lacks a bit on the side of eye-candy, the pro audio, pro video (again, sans the advantageous), and Akerfeldt’s sass measure up to a worthy purchase for those who can also appreciate a Detective Sergeant Roger Murtaugh cameo sandwiched between songs called “Cancer of the Soul” and “Mock the Cross”. Long live the schmaltz.
