The EP Unblessing the Purity was a promising taster of what to look forward to on The Fathomless Mastery and Bloodbath do not disappoint. The Swedes try a few different ideas along the way, but as a whole there are no disturbing detours. The music on The Fathomless Mastery is Americanized death metal and above all the song “Mock the Cross” has a obvious link to Morbid Angel, but Bloodbath do also find inspiration in Swedish and European death metal. The song-writing is competent and I like that the band has retained some of the groove and characteristics from the Resurrection Through Carnage album and it’s done without copying too much from this work of genius. Overall there’s a good mix between the simple and the more technical in the music.

On songs like “Iesous” and “Devouring the Feeble” there are inputs that sound a lot like Meshuggah and other contemporary bands. It’s something I easily could have done without, but as a whole it doesn’t blemish too much and the Swedes is largely able to avoid things becoming boring. Most of the songs are bursting with exuberance and the music is catchy both in terms of the riffs and vocals. Good examples of this are “At the Behest of Their Flesh”, ”Process of Disillumination”, ”Treasonous” and ”Earthrot”. Mikael Åkerfeldt’s growls are a big asset to the music. His vocals are one of the things that set Bloodbath apart from so much else. The vocals seem a little different than on Resurrection Through Carnage. Åkerfeldt go for a fast, quirky type of growl and it fits the music just right.

The production is thick and beefy. It goes well with the feel of the songs and despite of the compact sound none of the different facets seem to vanish. The Fathomless Mastery is not the work of art Resurrection Through Carnage is, but it’s definitely among the better albums in 2008.