{"id":1838194,"date":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1838194"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:00:00","slug":"metal-injections-pick-of-the-week-bloodbaths-nightmares-made-flesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1838194","title":{"rendered":"Metal Injection&#8217;s Pick Of The Week: BLOODBATH&#8217;s Nightmares Made Flesh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-p.smehost.net\/sites\/7f9737f2506941499994d771a29ad47a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bloodpick.png&#8221;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"zox-post-body left zoxrel zox100\">\n<div id=\"2910\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Every week we here at Metal Injection are picking one album in our ever-growing store to highlight. You can grab this week&#8217;s pick right here, and learn more about it below!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When Swedish death metal supergroup <strong>Bloodbath<\/strong> released <em>Nightmares Made Flesh<\/em> on September 27, 2004 via Century Media Records, the album marked a pivotal moment in the band&#8217;s evolution.<\/p>\n<p>The record was the band&#8217;s second full-length release and remains one of its most distinctive, thanks largely to a unique lineup shift. Vocal duties were handled by <strong>Peter T\u00e4gtgren<\/strong> \u2013 best known for fronting <strong>Hypocrisy<\/strong> and <strong>Pain<\/strong> \u2013 who stepped in after <strong>Mikael \u00c5kerfeldt<\/strong> of <strong>Opeth<\/strong> temporarily departed from the role.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the album introduced <strong>Martin<\/strong><strong>Axenrot<\/strong> behind the drum kit, replacing <strong>Dan Swan\u00f6<\/strong>, who moved to guitar. The shift would prove historic: <strong>Axenrot<\/strong> later joined <strong>Opeth<\/strong> as their longtime drummer. Meanwhile, <em>Nightmares Made Flesh <\/em>would become <strong>Swan\u00f6<\/strong>&#8216;s final album with <strong>Bloodbath<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Eaten\" width=\"880\" height=\"660\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AIeVnN9cFmw?feature=oembed\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Despite his commanding performance on the album, <strong>T\u00e4gtgren<\/strong> has often clarified that he was never a permanent member of the band. Speaking in a 2005 interview, he explained the circumstances around his involvement and subsequent departure: &#8220;Leave? I was never in it,&#8221; <strong>T\u00e4gtgren<\/strong> laughed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They asked me to play Wacken, but I told them I was sorry, that I didn&#8217;t have time. I don&#8217;t know where I&#8217;m going to be there with <strong>Pain<\/strong> or at another festival at the same time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to <strong>T\u00e4gtgren<\/strong>, the arrangement was always flexible. &#8220;They wanted to announce it as a really special thing, and I understand that, but <strong>Dan Swan\u00f6<\/strong> said that it was okay, they would do it with another singer, and if I have time I could step in. But <strong>Mike<\/strong> is back, so I&#8217;m off.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Still, the vocalist remains proud of the album and its reception among fans. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;ll do another <strong>Bloodbath<\/strong> album\u2026 It&#8217;s up to them. If they want to do it with me, great. That&#8217;s a killer album. People have been commenting on my voice on that album, and all I can say is that it was the songs that brought it out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For <strong>Swan\u00f6<\/strong>, the album represented a creative reset for the band. Rather than strictly adhering to a particular style of death metal, the group approached the songwriting with freedom.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bloodbath - Live At Wacken 2005 HD 1080p (Full Performance)\" width=\"880\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RL84JVt6sjs?feature=oembed\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;This is not a tribute album to any specific brand of <strong>Death<\/strong>. It&#8217;s just three songwriters writing the songs they want to hear,&#8221; <strong>Swan\u00f6<\/strong> explained in a 2004 interview. &#8220;I love writing without the limitations of a specific &#8216;style&#8217;\u2026 This time around I loved the freedom. I think we all did.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That approach resulted in an album that blended classic Swedish death metal brutality with a sharper, more modern edge \u2013 cementing <strong>Bloodbath<\/strong>&#8216;s reputation as one of the genre&#8217;s most formidable supergroups.<\/p>\n<p>One unexpected cultural crossover came when the track &#8220;The Ascension&#8221; appeared in a two-part European episode of the MTV series <em>Viva La Bam<\/em>, where <strong>Bam Margera<\/strong> and his family traveled across Europe. The placement introduced the band&#8217;s ferocious sound to a broader audience outside the death metal underground.<\/p>\n<p>For many fans, it&#8217;s still one of the definitive modern death metal records of the 2000s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"zox-post-body left zoxrel zox100\"><strong>Want More Metal? Subscribe To Our Daily Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Enter your information below to get a daily update with all of our headlines and receive The Orchard Metal newsletter.<\/p>\n<div id=\"main-newsletter-form\">\n<fieldset>\n<p><button id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" class=\"submit\" name=\"subscribe\" type=\"submit\">Subscribe<\/button><\/p>\n<\/fieldset>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/pick-of-the-week\/metal-injections-pick-of-the-week-bloodbaths-nightmares-made-flesh&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-p.smehost.net\/sites\/7f9737f2506941499994d771a29ad47a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bloodpick.png&#8221;] Every week we here at Metal Injection are picking one album in our ever-growing store to highlight. You can grab this week&#8217;s pick right here, and learn more about it below! When Swedish death metal supergroup Bloodbath released Nightmares Made Flesh on September 27, 2004 via Century Media Records, the album marked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,55],"class_list":["post-1838194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-metalinjection-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1838194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1838194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1838194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1838194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}