BLOODBATH REVEALS NEW VOCALIST

Sweden's master of horror, Bloodbath - notable for the inclusion of Katatonia and Opeth members - is set to release its fourth album of supreme death metal, Grand Morbid Funeral, on November 18 through Peaceville Records. Following the departure of Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt and months of speculation and rumor, Metal Hammer (U.K.) has revealed Paradise Lost's Nick Holmes as the new vocalist of Bloodbath.

Blakkheim (guitar) commented, "Little did I expect to be working with the voice behind the death metal classic Lost Paradise, or the genre defining Gothic, and yet here we are decades later fulfilling another death metal dream. With his sinister and ominous vocal delivery, it's an absolute pleasure to make Old Nick the bell-ringer in Bloodbath's Grand Morbid Funeral!"

Jonas Renkse (bass) commented, "Ever since I got into Lost Paradise back in '90, Nick Holmes has been one of my favorite growling vocalists out there. He was always audible and articulate but still deep and definitely morbid. It is a great pleasure to work with him some 25 years later after I was introduced to his thunderous roar!"

Recorded once again at Ghost Ward Studios and the City of Glass Studios in Stockholm, and mixed by David Castillo, Grand Morbid Funeral is undoubtedly the band's darkest and dirtiest opus yet; an organic collection of filth-ridden tracks straight from the grave, boldly eschewing the approach of somewhat over-produced modern death metal in favor of something altogether more rotten to the bone.

With eerie, doom-like melodies mixed with raw and savage riffing, and featuring a number of guest appearances including Chris Reifert and Eric Cutler from U.S. gore-master, Autopsy, Grand Morbid Funeral is a new high-point of brutality for Bloodbath.

Formed in 1998 with a mutual fascination for horror and the glory days of death metal (especially the old Florida & Stockholm 'Sunlight' scenes), the band has remained a leading light of extreme metal since its 'Breeding Death' EP was unleashed back in 2000, and a formidable force for 15 years, further cemented by the devastating - and most successful album to date - The Fathomless Mastery in 2008.

Bloodbath is set to appear on a string of festivals throughout 2015, including Inferno festival (Norway), Neurotic Deathfest (The Netherlands) and Maryland Deathfest (U.S.) with more TBA.