Audio CD review:
Kataklysm - Serenity in Fire

Kataklysm - Serenity in Fire

Band: Kataklysm Title: Serenity in Fire Rating: Release Date: 09 March, 2004 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Ambassador of Pain 2: Resurrected 3: As I Slither 4: For All Our Sins 5: Night They Returned 6: Serenity in Fire 7: Blood on the Swans 8: 10 Seconds from the End 9: Tragedy I Preach 10: Under the Bleeding Sun

Customer Reviews Quality stuff Their seventh studio album, 2004's "Serenity In Fire," finds the perfect equilibrium between musicianship that's nothing short of impeccable, honest-to-god catchy hooks, heavy and melodic riffs, contagious grooves, upper and lower-register vocals (a la Deicide's Glenn Benton), completely blown-out, grindcore- worthy chaos, and slow(er), fairly restrained tempos. There are certainly more innovative and unique-sounding bands out there, but you'd be hard pressed to find one that has mastered the craft of brutal yet simultaneously melodic death metal better than Kataklysm. The result is ten intense, urgent, and energetic (though never wild or out of control), super compact, and exceptionally memorable songs which are wound tighter than clocksprings, but also always manage to retain a concerted accessibility and easy-to-digest quality. Track three, "As I Slither" (the album's lead single and video), is about as catchy a song as you'll ever hear in death metal (just try to get that spine-tingling chorus out of your brain!), and "For All Our Sins," a blistering, thrashing punch to the throat with vocal tradeoffs between Kataklysm mainman Maurizio Iacono and Hypocrisy's Peter Tagtgren, are two of the biggest highlights on hand here. Later on, "Blood On The Swans," which boasts crunching, groove-oriented guitars and an awesome, insanely fast and furiously crushing ten-second long drum solo that sounds like a jackhammer on steroids (trust me, this is one for the ages), and "Under The Bleeding Sun," which is bolstered by strong, churning riffs, black metal-lite vocals, and an unexpectedly great, blazing melodic solo, are also killer cuts. Elsewhere, set opener "The Ambassador of Pain" interlocks hooky, punching riffs with machine gun blast beats to create a very propulsive and punishing rhythm, and also includes a memorable, shout-worthy chorus; and "The Resurrected" and "10 Seconds From The End" are noteworthy for their excellent crescendos -- they repeatedly build from blinding blasts to fiery, mid-tempo thrash riffs and back again. The main drawback to "Serenity In Fire" is its mechanical, often-borderline-robotic musicianship. Plus, as mentioned before, Kataklysm have never been the most original band out there, so most listeners will probably get the feeling that they've heard it all before. Shortcomings or not though, this is another accomplished, enjoyable, and satisfying release from these Canadian hyperblasters, thus making it a perfect fit in their discography, and a worthy addition to every metalhead's record collection. Snoozefest I bought it for power chords and blast beats, and on those it delivers. OK, before I bash this CD, let me say that I do enjoy it. "Serenity In Fire" is definitely a low point in Kataklysm's career and certainly the very definition of bland Death Metal. If you believe this album is an example of technical virtuosity, you have been severely misled. If you want to hear technicality: [[ASIN:B00004S63Q Winds of Creation]], or [[ASIN:B0006212KE Ideas of Reference]]. OK, first of all the drums. I don't know if it was the songwriting being terrible or if the drummer, Martin Maurais, is incapable of playing anything else, but his patterns are terrible. His double-bass kicks are recycled from song to song to song, all the way through the album. Listen to "Ambassador Of Pain", "The Night They Returned", "Serenity In Fire" and "The Tragedy I Preach" and tell me the main driving bass-kicks are different. His work on the kit is barely palatable and extremely uninspired. There is hardly anything beyond a gallop beat on the tom and steady rhythm on the snare or crash throughout the song. Sure, there are about 5-6 minutes within the 39 minute album that he plays something different, but that is it. The guitar work is certainly nothing to get excited about either. There is nothing AT ALL on this album that can't be heard elsewhere. The riffing is extremely forgettable and worst of all, predictable. Overall song structure revolves around a few different riffs that are broken down into sections. That's it. One riff transfers into another which begins a new section, this repeats a few times, then the song is over. Timing is almost the same in every song. A few fills and/or tempo changes are thrown in from time to time, but they do little to break up the monotony. Lyrics suck. Period. Maurizio Iacono's vocals are lacking here. The "spoken" or cleaner vocals are horrible and really don't have a place within the songs at all. I don't know why they were added. Iacono sounds rather uninspired at parts within the album. Unless he is screaming full-tilt (which sounds decent at best on this album), he seems to be reading from a script rather than really putting his heart into what he says. Also, I don't know who does the higher pitched "screams" (more like yells, think Hardcore vocals) but they are ANNOYING. And so with predictable song structures, terrible lyrics, repetitious riffs, crushingly boring drumming, and uninspired growls, this is a terrible album. HOWEVER. . . There are some redeeming qualities here. The production is very good, and has the proper heavy Death Metal sound that we all love so well. The instruments are clear (except the bass, which is drowned out on 90% of the album) and easy to follow. The songs are "catchy" which I usually abhor, but you will find yourself head-banging at times. The problem with this is the album is so bland you will bang out of habit, much like tapping your foot to a melody but not really hearing it. This album is OK in small doses. More than two songs in a row really gets pointless. BEST TRACKS: The Ambassador Of Pain; Blood On The Swans; The Night They Returned; Under The Bleeding Sun. Kataklysm can kick all other metal bands butts Very fast, but not to the point where it doesn't sound like music. There is not really another band out there that I can compare Kataklysm to. Same with the drums, very fast but not to the point that it sounds like a bunch of marbles falling on a drum. A must check out for any metal head. Best song in my opinion is "Blood on the Swans". . You can see a complete list of all Kataklysm discography, or go back to the Kataklysm tabs