Kataklysm - Prevail

Published May 28 2008

*=Staff's pick	Prevail Taking The World By Storm The Chains Of Power* As Death Lingers* Blood In Heaven To The Throne Of Sorrow Breath To Dominate* Tear Down The Kingdom The Vultures Are Watching The Last Effort (Renaissance II)

Genre	Death Metal	Maurizio Iacono	Vocals
Tracks	10	Jean-Francois Dagenais	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Stephane Barbe	Bass
Release	23 May 2008	Max Duhamel	Drums
Country	Canada	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	---

Kataklysm's previous album In The Arms Of Devastation (2006) is a real killer in my eyes, and one of the best albums that year. Their new effort Prevail is good, but unfortunately a minor disappointment in the shadow of the last album. There is a lack in the area in which Kataklysm rely on: the riffing. This album does not get going until the third song The Chains Of Power, but from there we get three really good songs in form of the mentioned one, As Death Lingers and Blood In Heaven. Still I miss the exceptional sharp riffing and the great groove from the last album.

Apart from the above mentioned songs I want to point at Breath To Dominate and The Vultures Are Watching as songs being Kataklysm at their best, but I am sad to say that the rest of the songs never manage to engage me as much as I am used to. The closing instrumental piece The Last Effort (Renaissance II) is good and catchy, and I usually love those as they are, but this one I think would benefit from having vocals.

I can not put my finger on why I like the band so much, as it is nothing ground breaking or special per se. They just have a great sound and they create a special atmosphere. The vocals are average for the genre, perhaps slightly above, but works very well with their sound in general. My reviewing colleague Hawk wrote in his review for the In The Arms Of Devastation album: "If they sharpen their song writing just a tiny bit for the next album they will enter the elite of the genre they belong to." Unfortunately that has not happened yet. Perhaps next time, as they surely still have the potential.

See also review of: In The Arms Of Devastation

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	6,5	7	7	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Tommy