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Kataklysm - In The Arms Of Devastation
Release: 2006Label: Nuclear Blast
By: Anders
Posted: Mar 6, 2006
The first Kataklysm album I got my hands on was their debut full length "Sorcery", which I found on sale a random day, I later traded the album for some great vinyl, though that album turned me into Kataklysm, and I have been following the band a bit since then. It has always been a bit up and down when speaking of the Canadian band, they deliver ultra brutal and blasting death metal (even dubbed "Northern Hyperblast") with a good use of melodies, though I often find the band drowning in their own ideas and much of their material ends up sounding the same, due to similarities in the patters and blueprints of the compositions.
This album starts out as brutal as usual, first we are served the spoken intro: "Revenge is a meal best served cold!", and then Kataklysm kicks it off with their trademark metal, no matter what, it is always possible to hear that it is Kataklysm playing. They have their own ripping and crunchy guitar sound and the blasting drums, more or less sounding the same from album to album, and the latter years, where Iacono has controlled the mic and screamed from the bottom of his guts, his growl has also been one of the trademarks of the band's sound.
The compositions this time around sounds inspired, and we are treated a great deal of hard-hitting riffs, blistering melodies and good song structures. The band has become better and better at alternating between the fast parts and the slower parts, and they have found a good balance here, it doesn't get too slow and boring, as it once in a while has happened. Jean-Francois Dagenais has written some good songs with his band, brutal fast, melodic, slow, even doomy at times, and there is a grand epic atmosphere present at times as well.
It is Dagenais who has recorded the album, though the task of the mixing, he handed to Tue Madsen, and he has done a great job once again. The sound is huge and crushing, the guitar sound is awesome and the drumming right on spot, with the vocals in a good balance, a great production that pushes the material out of the speakers and into the head of the listener.
Yet a Kataklysm album to the collection, though one of the best so far, if not the best they have made. The music is crushing, the musicianship is outstanding as usual, if one is into death metal, this album will fulfil a pleasure or 2, brutality delivered fast and melodic, with elements of doom once in a while and a tone of epic dimensions at others, give it a spin or two, as the album is a grower.
This album starts out as brutal as usual, first we are served the spoken intro: "Revenge is a meal best served cold!", and then Kataklysm kicks it off with their trademark metal, no matter what, it is always possible to hear that it is Kataklysm playing. They have their own ripping and crunchy guitar sound and the blasting drums, more or less sounding the same from album to album, and the latter years, where Iacono has controlled the mic and screamed from the bottom of his guts, his growl has also been one of the trademarks of the band's sound.
The compositions this time around sounds inspired, and we are treated a great deal of hard-hitting riffs, blistering melodies and good song structures. The band has become better and better at alternating between the fast parts and the slower parts, and they have found a good balance here, it doesn't get too slow and boring, as it once in a while has happened. Jean-Francois Dagenais has written some good songs with his band, brutal fast, melodic, slow, even doomy at times, and there is a grand epic atmosphere present at times as well.
It is Dagenais who has recorded the album, though the task of the mixing, he handed to Tue Madsen, and he has done a great job once again. The sound is huge and crushing, the guitar sound is awesome and the drumming right on spot, with the vocals in a good balance, a great production that pushes the material out of the speakers and into the head of the listener.
Yet a Kataklysm album to the collection, though one of the best so far, if not the best they have made. The music is crushing, the musicianship is outstanding as usual, if one is into death metal, this album will fulfil a pleasure or 2, brutality delivered fast and melodic, with elements of doom once in a while and a tone of epic dimensions at others, give it a spin or two, as the album is a grower.
Rating: 8½/10
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