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By JEFF MAKI
I'm not always necessarily interested in who can play the fastest or sound the most satanic, or who can sound the most like cookie-monster on any given day. I need something that stands out, something that sets a band or album apart from the hundreds of others cycling through year after year, some who are great, and many others unlistenable in my opinion. Truth be told, I'm actually a pretty big fan of the death metal genre, and have been for many years, and there are several bands and albums released which I feel stand out - Entombed Clandestine, Carcass - Heartwork, Obituary - The End Complete, and Deicide's Once Upon A Cross to name off a few. The main elements that set these albums and bands apart from all the other death metallers is originality and surprise. Sure these albums are heavy as sin, with satanic and violent lyrics, but it's not all about lightning fast speed and indecipherable vocals. These classic death metal albums stand out because they mix it up with enough themes, variety, breakdowns, blastbeats, memorable lyrics, choruses and riffs. I'd much rather hear this than a non-stop wall of noise, which many bands seem to be producing lately.
In The Arms Of Devastation doesn't break into any unknown territory, but does contain all of the above elements of those past death metal classics, and does not grow tiresome with repeated listens.The self proclaimed '"creators of northern hyper-blast", have released a near perfect slab of memorable death metal here, with surprises and variety abound, and even some sense of melody infused. "Like Angels Weeping The Dark" begins in true Kataklysm fashion, very reminiscent of material from In Shadows And Dust, then we are thrown right into "Let Them Burn", a shout and answer type vocal, over absolutely amazing riffs. This track could be my fav of the disc. The band slows it up for a bit on "Crippled And Broken", before unleashing into a thrash-like frenzy. The chorus is one of those that is sure to have audience participation. An acoustic interlude begins "To Reign Again" and does very well to mix things up and keep you interested, before taking off in different directions, from hyper-fast, to slowed down bass lines, and the very memorable and somewhat melodic chorus. "Open Scars" sounds like it could've been on Once Upon A Cross, but is actually better than anything on that release! I take it back, this is for sure the strongest track on this album. Every track is high quality death metal on here and I see no reason why any fan would be at all disappointed. The term '"heavy" alone can't be used to describe the bulk of this release, because it's well beyond that.
Overall, of any recent death metal release, I could most compare this too Bloodbath's Nightmares Made Flesh. The production sounds very similar while both recordings are crushingly heavy, with nice grooves in the mix, along with some of the most sinister and evil sounding vocals you'll hear. And you can even make them out for the most part!
If you're a metal fan will you like this release? Maybe not, but if you're a fan of any of those albums I mentioned above, or a fan of Katakylsm already, then you're in for a hell of a time with this record. It will be extremely hard for another death metal band to top this release in year 2006.
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