On their fourth album, Cataract continue to do what they do best: combine strong rhythm guitars, pounding bass, rampaging bass, and raging scream vocals. For sure, this has been done to death before, and frankly, there's nothing new about Cataract's music, but the genre's fans will be pleased nonetheless.
After the slow, doomy intro, the band quickly offers "War of Cultures", replete with numerous hardcore breakdowns, cool drum fills, and heavy, really heavy guitar work. The best thing about Cataract is that their riffs are more innovative than most others bands' and they really know how to compose a song that rocks. Mind you, guitar solos are terribly missing throughout the album, they do get into a Slayer-esque twin lead on the aggressive "Denial of Life", and really try out a thrash metal experiment during the middle section of "On This Graveyard", a song that boasts fierce riffery and a tenacious rhythm quality. "March with Your Battleforce" is perhaps their most complex song, as it reeks of dynamic twin guitar work where both guitarists inject intricate chord progressions into the sound while retaining a distinct Euro thrash metal like vibe through its course. The opening of "Sacrificed for the Wealth" is bound the catch the attention of any drummer who is concerned with perfect timing and a thick bottom. Up until "Unforgotten", the band plows through the same formula, but at least the aggression that's meant to define the metalcore genre is maintained. "Unforgotten" has a slightly death metal touch to it in that the vocals and the staccato riffs are woven around a more non-hardcore song structure.
If you're not a fan of hardcore and metalcore or the newer material of Slayer, chances are you won't enjoy Cataract. Otherwise, it's worth a listen for sure.
Track Listing
- Kingdom's Rise
- War of Cultures
- On This Graveyard
- Denial of Life
- Tongues Spitting Hate
- March with Your Battleforce
- Sacrificed for the Wealth
- Definition of the Sacred
- Legions at the Gates
- Unforgotten
- For Their Sins
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