Mikael Åkerfeldt Vomited on a Wall While Recording Bloodbath’s First EP

Metal is a labor of love. For the majority of metal musicians — even the ones who are lucky enough to earn a full-time living from their craft — doing so means staying trapped inside a traveling, fart-filled box with five other dudes for nine months out of the year, eating shit for food, barely sleeping, drinking yourself into oblivion and being completely disconnected from friends and family.

And then there’s the Mikael Åkerfeldt form of dedication: vomiting while recording vocals.

In a recent interview with Aggressive Tendencies, Åkerfeldt revealed he did exactly that while laying down tracks for Bloodbath’s debut EP, Breeding Death. The Opeth singer had gone a bit too hard the night before and needed to let it all out, but he claims the bile left in his throat after purging his guts effected his vocals for the better. That’s just the headline-grabbing anecdote, of course; elsewhere in the interview Akerfeldt also talks about the early days of Bloodbath, his return to the band many years later and more.

Watch below. And never question Åkerfeldt’s metal creed ever again, latter day Yes-worship be damned.