Review Summary: This debut shows true potential for an unknown brutal death metal outfit from Russia...
Katalepsy's first full length
Musik Brings Injuries sees the band blasting, grinding, chugging and pig squealing all their way through the once evil-empire, Russia. Though from Russia, it's clear that they've done their homework on American style brutal death metal. Featuring two covers and five original tracks, this debut clocks in at only twenty-four minutes, but, hell, it's the most brutal twenty-four minutes I've heard for a while. Opening up with
Gialo, nearly every single talent of the band is present. Brutal blast beats, grinding snare, mosh pit fuelling breakdowns and enough pig squealing to drive any farmer insane...
From the album opener, one thing is clear; a good portion of the band's energy comes from their drummer, Alexey Semenov. No matter how fast the rest of the band is shredding, the drums maintain at least, yes,
at least twice the speed. This is the kind of energy that so many bands lack in oh-so many albums. From the double-bass breakdowns to the snare and cymbal combos crashing in every direction, Semenov demonstrates a precise talent for percussion. The vocals are one highlight of the album. They help unleash the evil ambiance that each track contains, and though they are not completely undecipherable like most pig squeals, they never get old, but serve as another instrument in the frantic chaos of each song. The guitars are superb as well, but no groundbreaking. They just keep adding to the slamming brutal death metal feel of each song. After a few listens though, this being death metal, both the solos and the riffs seem to get slightly repetitive. Some more technicality in the riffs would have brought this album's grade up by 0.5 though. The riffs are heavy enough and groovy enough to add melodies to certain tracks, preventing it from seeming repetitive.
The song that got me hooked on this band was their very unique, intense and crushing cover or Mortian's
Rabid, the fourth track on the album. Where Mortician wrote an intense track, Katalepsy reinvented it to become the most brutal cover of any song I've heard so far. Opening up with a slow drum beat, the band goes from a slamming chug to an intense chainsawing sound, resembling the first half of the album greatly. This is a track that everyone in the pit will bleed to... But, the covers don't stop there. The final track on the album is a reinvention of Megadeth's
Symphony Of Destruction. It's so fast it sounds almost nothing like the original (in a good way for some). I didn't even recognize it until the chorus came in.
Symphony Of Destruction has never sounded more brutal. This cover sees the band toning the speed down for such a song.
All in all, Katalepsy's
Musick Brings Injuries is a great example of well-executed American style slamming brutal death metal, and though the album is short, it's guaranteed to destroy the ears of any fan if they turned it up loud enough... *Insert evil laugh here* Katalepsy are definitely a band to watch out for because their unique style and approach to song writing is a breath of fresh air compared to many 'wall-of-sound' brutal death metal outfits today. This album clearly shows the potential of a band that are still finding their feet in the music world. Hell, I'm just going to say it. F--k, I can’t wait until Katalepsy records another full-length so I can sodomize myself with it, just like I did with this one...
