Kataleptic - Through The Eyes Of Carnality

Self Released 2012

 

1.Flesh 2.Subversion 3.Grotesk 4.Demagogue

 

Debut e.p. from Birmingham’s Kataleptic and opening track ‘Flesh’ pounds out from the speakers the instant the disc begins. There is a massive old school influence on display here, a putrid groove to the guitar work which adds to the dense atmosphere and overall morbid feel. No need for hyper speed blasting here, playing fast doesn’t always make a song brutal, but playing with depth, feeling and a genuine love of old school death metal can, and does in Kataleptic’s case. Think Autopsy, with a bit of Morgoth and Demigod mixed in and you’ll understand where the band sits overall in death metal terms. An excellent opening track! ‘Subversion’ introduces itself with a bit more speed added to the opening salvo of riffs which adds variety to the band’s sound. The pace is then dropped off to the more familiar morbid crawl / mid-paced fetid feast. The riffs begin to show a slight leaning towards a more Swedish death metal sound, the likes of Dismember springing to mind with maybe some Fleshcrawl (Germany – although they also sound Swedish) added in for good measure. ‘Grotesk’ is a really sharp, hard hitting song, the band sounding particularly tight here with the guitars taking on a more frenzied and technical feel whilst being accompanied brilliantly by some precise drum work. The pace is again moved up a notch, but not to the point of blasting, more a ‘fast mid-paced’ approach which is where the band sound at their deadliest. Definitely the stand out track of the e.p. so far!

Closing the e.p. is ‘Demagogue’ which begins life in great thrash tinged death metal fashion with a slight melodic edge to it. The song then suddenly breaks out in a hail of manic riffs and fast drumming but it doesn’t last for long as the groove infested death metal is returned in great style, giving the song that old school feel heard in the earlier tracks. Just as the track started, so it ends with the return of the thrash influenced and melodic riffing which is spiced up with a crazed guitar solo. There is a four second ‘surprise track’ at the end, not listed on the booklet and its four seconds of not much really. Overall, this is an absolutely cracking first e.p. and shows a band that have refined their sound over several demos to reveal what is on offer here. Their music has a really mature sound to it and is well written and structured and is a really brutal slab of old school influenced putrid death metal. Rather than just being yet another ‘polished’ death metal band full of pig squeals and break downs, this release really stands out and I expect they are a great proposition live. Morbid, festering old school influenced death metal that really packs a punch and keeps the listener engaged, this comes well recommended.

 

8 out of 10

 

Band Page: Here

Buy it: Here