Primary Emotions/Themes: Desecration of anything holy, death, anti-christianity, violence
Thoughts: There are very few chances I get to blast music at unhealthy levels. Today is one of those days. I have this shit cranked up to the point where I can't hear myself think. My ambient sound pressure application is telling me I'm playing this at 88 dB, and I don't fucking care. I need to fucking headbang every now and then - I'm fucking pissed off and this music matches that energy perfectly.
The Fathomless Mastery sees Bloodbath with their most modern take on death metal. The band fully embraces blast beats, dissonant scales and influences from all over the death metal spectrum. The riffs are all over the place, and sometimes border on technical death metal with the level of intricacy on display.
What the band does exceptionally well is song construction and knowing what riffs go together and what riffs do not. They have an uncanny knack for knowing exactly how slow to make a slower section (not really even a breakdown), and then how to completely pummel the listener again.
The opener sets the stage for the entire album. It comes blasting in with a riff that gets more intense every time it repeats. Mike's vocals eviscerate anything that comes in their way. They have that perfect balance of being able to understand what he is saying while still being brutal as fuck. When the band gets to the chorus we have the first instance of the band slowing down for a measure or two.
They don't just chug with this riff, they completely decimate with it. The drums slow down just a tad, and we hear the death metal choir chant the title of the song. Just as quickly as it comes in, the band moves on back into the intense opening riff. This is how much of the album goes.
The band displays a lot of different styles on the Fathomless Mastery. Mock the Cross is a direct tribute to mid period Morbid Angel with it's slower main riff. Iesous has a nasty ass chugging riff in the middle of the song that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Hades Rising has a melodic section towards the end of it that almost puts the band into Gothenburg territory. Every song is good, some songs are legendary.
Bloodbath is a band that has managed to reinvent themselves multiple times. With The Fathomless Mastery the band took a modern look at their sound and absolutely killed it. This is my favorite release from the band, and it stands up there with some of the best death metal releases in the last 20 years.
Written October 31st 2023
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