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Bloodbath
The Fathomless Mastery


2.0
poor

Review

by Dethtrasher USER (232 Reviews)
November 10th, 2008 | 46 replies


Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist


Most of you know the story about Bloodbath, they are a side-project of some of Sweden's most hard working men in the death metal scene. This side project is rooted in the members’ ideas and interests of making music where all of them once started their careers with, death metal. They come from bands like notorious Opeth, legendary Edge Of Sanity, Katatonia and Hypocrisy among others. Super group or not, the band know how to play death metal and they do it with ease. Brutal and extremely forceful death metal is what Bloodbath is all about. They have yet released three full-lengths, two EP's and one live album, The Wacken Carnage. After the release of the latest EP I couldn't wait to hear how the new album would sound like. My expectations was very high when The Fathomless Mastery was released on the market. I had no idea how this album would sound like but I knew that it was going to have some similarities to the EP. As soon as I noticed that this was available on the internet, I bought it and I immediately began to listen. The power of disappointment struck me harder more than ever.

The Fathomless Mastery is without a doubt a pure death metal album, featuring dark growls, fast picked tremolo and power-chord guitars and of course blast-beat fury. The problem is that this doesn't sound like Bloodbath. Mikael Akerfeldt's vocals are terrible compared to the Ressurection Through Carnage. Even if the Resurrection Through Carnage was quite repetitive, The Fathomless Mastery became even more repetitive . I'm not saying that the band has taken a new direction from their original style but everything sounds so re-hashed and uninspired. Akerfeldt's sharp beast growls are now just a murky mush, he's unique growls has deteriorated a lot in this album. Another thing that Bloodbath has failed to achieve is the variation of tracks. If you compare this to Nightmares Made Flesh you will notice that this album is very repetitive. Most tracks have different intros but as the songs progresses you can hear that both guitars and drums starts to sound similar to the other tracks. I was hoping to have some slow moving tracks mixed with some hyper-fast stuff, something that would make the songs to stick out more. This time everything became more or less the same; there are hardly any noticeable or memorable melodies in this album. The only songs that I enjoy areEarthrot and Drink From The Cup Of Heresy. Those two tracks are the only ones that contains some of Bloodbath’s trademarks. Like the unpleasant atmospheres and the dark down-tuned riff sections. Bloodbath has always used some small portions of melodies in their material, most of the time the melodies have been memorable ones, but this time they aren’t. And thanks to Akerfeldt's limited vocal diversity most songs gets quite stiff and simply boring. This time I wished that Akerfeldt could've stayed with his beloved Opeth and a new vocalist would've been added. Hell, even Dan Swano could've been a more capable or even better vocal-replacement.

One of my favourite death metal bands disappointed me a lot this time and I hate to say that. They even decided to mix their music with Meshuggah influences. Just listen to Iesous, Mock The Cross and Devouring The Feeble. Only Meshuggah uses those kinds of chunky riff moments and it doesn’t mix well with this type of death metal. I think personally that the replacing Dan Swano with an unknown guitarist was a mistake, even guitarists like Ola Lindgren from Grave could've been better. They should’ve taken a guy with more experience under his belt. All the riff lines contains more or less black metal-ish tremolo picking patterns and the unusually overuse of blast-beats has transformed Bloodbath into something else that doesn't sounds like the real Bloodbath. Good or bad, that's for you to decide. I was expecting a record that maybe would sound like a mix between the earlier albums, but instead it became an album that sounds more like the Unblessing The Purity EP x 4. Nightmares Made Flesh will still remain as their greatest achievement. Everything that I liked from the previous albums does not exist in this one. I liked the gory, filthy, dark and unpleasant things that surrounded the bands previous material but this time the music felt completely mediocre. Few people will agree with me but this is how I feel about this album, I still love the band but at this time I think that The Fathomless Mastery should be called ''The Worthless Wankery''.

Positives
+ The band is still active and healthy
+ Professional death metal

Negatives
- This is even more repetitive than Resurrection Through Carnage
- Akerfeldt's growls doesn't impress me this time
- To much blast-beats and tremolo pickings
- Completely unoriginal material compared to their previous albums

Recommended Tracks
-- Earhrot
-- Drink From The Cup Of Heresy

Final rating will be a 2/5.



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user ratings (761)
3.6
great
other reviews of this album
TBliss (4)
‘The Fathomless Mastery’ is still a furious slab of extreme music and another exceptional weapon...

rasputin (3)
Bloodbath fathomlessly master death metal, or so they’d like us to think....



Comments:Add a Comment 
Dethtrasher
November 10th 2008


2211 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

Bring me the negs cuz this time I don't fucking care. Album sucks hard.

Hawks
November 10th 2008


95325 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Wow I never thought I would see this low of a rating for a Bloodbath album. I still haven't heard it and now I'm a little hesitant. Very good review though.This Message Edited On 11.10.08

jingledeath
November 10th 2008


7100 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

wow I was expecting a good review for this one and here I find one with an even worse rating.well, great review but as my rating suggest I disagree on a number of levels



TrojanWhore
November 10th 2008


752 Comments


Haven't heard this but good review, don't see why it should be negged.

Athom
Emeritus
November 10th 2008


17244 Comments


Although I disagree, good review.

Spamue1G
November 10th 2008


1291 Comments


Great review, but I can't see how you can think that Akerfeldt's voice has deteriorated on this? Oh well, I'm not the best to judge on death growls anyway.

DeathThrashProg
November 10th 2008


498 Comments


have a pos! i checked out a load of songs on youtube before it was released, i really wasnt impressed. NMF owns, but i dont even think im going to dl this.

wakeupdead
November 10th 2008


2229 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

everytime i see that other guy DethThrasher i get him confused with Dethtrasher. Either way lol good review

DeathThrashProg
November 10th 2008


498 Comments


how about DeathThrashProg to further confuse you?

willfellmarsy
November 10th 2008


3847 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

album's a little better than you give it credit for but nothing too special...most songs sound similar...review should be based less on expectations/who you think would have made the album better...i agree about akerfelt's vox being weaker

Essence
November 10th 2008


6741 Comments


the masterless fathomry more like it amirite

ninjuice
November 10th 2008


6760 Comments


[i]The Fathomless Mastery/i]

I don't think I need to state the problem...
God or bad, that's for you to decide.

Unless you're saying there's the possibility of "godly" guitar, add an "o" there.
There's a lot of good points here, but at the same time it kinda sounds like one side of a conversation about the album. In other words, the writing is a tad awkward. I didn't neg this though.

SylentEcho
November 10th 2008


1606 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Good review, I voted.

I agree with parts of the review. Even I found certain similarities to Meshuggah. A lot of unoriginal and rehashed stuff here too. By the way, Dan Swano wasn't replaced, he left the band himself, as I stated in the other review, this I feel is the main thing that has hurt and changed the band so much.



I wish Peter Tatgren returns to sort things out, hes one guy who can literally make something out of nothing, but he looks to be too busy with Pain & Hypocrisy nowadays.



Anyway, this album isn't a 2. It's good, just not by their standards.This Message Edited On 11.10.08

charlesfishowitz
November 10th 2008


1792 Comments


what the gay?!

Duderino
November 10th 2008


830 Comments


The hate on this album is overrated. Sure they aren't reinventing the wheel but it's an enjoyable listen

Altmer
November 10th 2008


5712 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

the semenless penistery

Pebster49
November 10th 2008


3026 Comments


The hate on this album is overrated. Sure they aren't reinventing the wheel but it's an enjoyable listen


This

Doppelganger
November 10th 2008


3124 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

this is barely above average

DeathThrashProg
November 10th 2008


498 Comments


the semenless penistery

win of the day

masscows
November 10th 2008


2230 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

The hate on this album is overrated. Sure they aren't reinventing the wheel but it's an enjoyable listen
no it isn't



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