Guitarist Joakim Karlsson announced his departure from Bloodbath. In Karlsson’s farewell post, he mentioned how he never viewed himself as a guitarist and plans on focusing on his other band Craft. Tomas Åkvik of LIK will be replacing Karlsson on tour.
“I am putting away my Bloodbath vest for good.
To be honest, I’ve never really considered myself a guitarist – at least not a particularly good one – just someone who plays guitar out of necessity because I wouldn’t be able to write my music otherwise. Bloodbath needs a lead guitarist; someone who can pull off these fast, evil solos and whatnot, and to be completely honest, that guy simply isn’t me. Bloodbath needs someone who can do it justice.
I have had pretty much only good moments with the band, and I’m glad to have been a part of it for the last year and a half, but now I’ll do other things. (I vaguely remember having a main band which hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves during the last year. I think I’ll focus on that for a while.) Alright… Later, Bloodbath fans. I hope I at least managed to trick some of you into listening to Craft.
By the way, some of you were making guesses about what songs I wrote for TAOSID. I wrote ‘Wayward Samaritan‘ (music/lyrics), ‘Only the Dead Survive‘ (music, together with former Craft guitarist John Doe), ‘Ride the Waves of Fire‘ (music/lyrics) and ‘Wide Eyed Abandon‘ (music).”
The band also commented on his departure and wished him good fortune:
“We’d like to thank Joakim for his time in Bloodbath, his contributions to TAOSID and we urge you all to submit to his continual work with black metal masters Craft. Live guitar duties will proceed with Tomas from LIK – Sthlm.”
https://www.facebook.com/bloodbathband/posts/10157171717489699
