On the other hand, since the disc had been dubbed Unblessing the Purity, and the album artwork was a wolf with a crucifix necklace baptizing a baby for some reason, I knew to expect maximum cheesiness. And as metal tends to do, the disc played quite exactly to my expectations.

But that's a good thing. There is no shortage here of the melodically dissonant guitar lines that Bloodbath became known for with their incredibly evil (but also hilariously titled) Resurrection through Carnage in 2002. It's hard to keep a genre like melodic death metal fresh, and so Bloodbath works by the laws of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But the vitality and energy of the group's explosive sound make any of their output worth hearing, and the four gore-soaked tunes on this EP are certainly no exception.

Akerfeldt's brutal growl is as deep and threatening as ever, taking tracks like "Blasting the Virginborn" (yes, that's the real title) to great extremes of ass-kicking, proving that even though Opeth has grown a tad bit lighter, the frontman is more than capable of tearing s*** up. The guitarwork of Per Erikkson and Anders Nystrom is often similar to modern classical music in its heavy utilization of dissonant but epic, brooding riffs. They sound like they could have written theme music for the original Star Wars movies ("De-handing The Vader", etc.)

So, although the EP won't surprise you at all, chances are if you are reading this review that you're into music that doesn't surprise you at all. Just kidding… please don't kill me.

Don't Believe Me? Listen for yourself.