Kataklysm In the Arms of Devastation

After hearing nine releases spawning over nearly fifteen years, fans of Canadian metallers Kataklysm know what to expect. Kataklysm have well-honed the basics of death metal and deliver a punishing array of furious riffing and insanely fast blast beats in typical fashion on their tenth release, In the Arms of Devastation. On 2004's Serenity In Fire, drummer Max Dahamel certainly proved his speed with start to finish hyperblasts. Although impressive, I felt that it somewhat lagged on and at times seemed too triggered and almost synthetic. The speed hasn't gone anywhere and the drumming on ITAOD certainly keeps my attention with the occasional use of a fragrant snare, the utilization of various double kick beats, and unique cymbal work. The guitar work is satisfying and the album features well-constructed solos on the tracks "Open Scars" and the "Road to Devastation", something absent from previous albums. The clean, melodic intro to the track "To Reign Again" serves as a brief, but pleasing respite from the album's otherwise wall-to-wall brutality. I'm not particularly a fan of death metal vocals, so I'm probably exhibiting some amount of bias when I say that the low growls of Maurizio Iacono are unsatisfying. He alternates between the growls and an occasional higher scream. I much prefer the latter, but it's used quite sparingly. "It Turns to Rust" features a death metal vocal duet between Iacono and Kittie's Morgan Lander. Although I don't particularly enjoy either set of vocal chords, the duet serves as a nice touch to the album. One major drawback to the album may very well be the placement of the tracks. The first half of the album is undoubtedly stronger than the second. It gives you the feeling that they came out swinging, but didn't have the stamina to finish. Bottom Line: If you're already a Kataklysm fan, it's unlikely that ITAOD will disappoint you. It serves as a nice addition to an already solid career. Aside from the end-of-album boredom, ITAOD is dark, heavy, and perhaps the best North American death metal release of a young 2006.