Bloodbath started out a few years back round 00 as a fun death metal side-project of members from Opeth, Katatonia, Edge of Sanity and few other well known Swedish extreme metal bands. The initial incarnation of Bloodbath spawned a well received 3-song EP "Breeding Death" which featured Mikael Akerfeldt on spilling his guts on the mic. Eventually through fanbase pressures the band released its debut "Resurrection Through Carnage" however due to poor production and a certain lack of chemistry, Bloodbath lost momentum.

Two years later the band was resurrected under a new line-up with notable extreme metal figure Peter Tagtgren taking the role of lead vocals. I feel it is Tagtgren's involvement that gave this project its first strong album and propelled this band at the forefront of extreme metal audiences.

Much like the EP, Nightmares Made Flesh pays homage to classic death metal. It is neither a clone or a mere tribute band rather old school influences are infused to creat some good catchy headbanging material. There are elements from all over the death metal realm, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Death, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse each more or less evident on the tracks.

Unlike Bloodbath's debut, the production is very tight and the riffs are as they should be simply crushing. No it's not technical but when you listen to songs like Eaten or the Opener Cancer of the Soul your immediate reaction will be moshing like a lunatic around your room, airguitaring and trying to hit those low notes.

While the band is impressive instrumentally, it is Tagtgren that makes every song stand out. If you're used to hearing his rather raspy tones in Hypocrisy then you may not recognize whose vocal chords your headbanging to. Indeed his vocals are much rawer and guttural on this album than his longtime-standing band yet not gargling or anything that's beyond comprehension. There are spots on the album where the band tries to sound slightly serious, invoking some more fantasy like themes with The Ascension and does a good job overall, in fact the song is almost like a catchy non-technical Nile meets Iron Maiden's Powerslave (far as the theme of egypt and what not goes .. definitely not musically far as the latter goes!).

I find this album can appeal to both hardcore death metal fans and metal fans who don't mind dabbling into some extreme metal every so often.

The US version comes with 2 songs from the EP Breeding Death, as a treat for the headbangers out there - especially as the album received a very late release on the North American continent.