Mikael Åkerfeldt is basically done screaming now, whether he wants to admit that or not. He announced yesterday that he was leaving Bloodbath, the supergroup he fronted with Opeth and Katatonia members since 1998. Åkerfeldt told Loudwire that the recent Bloodbath shows had been fun, but he really didn't feel the need to participate in the project any longer:
Bloodbath, for me, was never a serious project, it was just something I did for fun. We did a few songs on the last North American tour, we did two songs at the very last show [see video below. — Ed.] because we were touring with Katatonia, so the whole Bloodbath band was there. It's still fun, you know? But I think that some of the other guys in Bloodbath want to take it to the next level, which I don't really want to do because I'm so busy anyways."
"It doesn't really have to do with anything with my screaming vocals, it's just that it's not a progressive project for me. It's just paying tribute to death metal and I've done it for such a long time. And when it stops being fun, I don't really want to participate. We do things so rarely it's always been fun. The shows we've done have been fun, but I don't feel the need to do it."
While Åkerfeldt might not be in the band anymore, the show must go on. He did tell Loudwire that Bloodbath had a new singer, but he just wouldn't say who it was. What would be really interesting was if the death metal supergroup hired another famous vocalist to take over the reigns.
For those of you who never got to see Mikael with Bloodbath, check out this performance from his last show in Baltimore:
