Words by: Hunter Young
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 31/07/2015
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
As is very common on their albums, they communicate a sense of battle, even though much of the content isn't necessarily war themed. I can't help but visualize a muddy battlefield, churned to blackened soup by thousands of feet stomping more and more blood into the ground, throughout ‘Breaching the Asylum’ and ‘The Black Sheep’. Maybe I am just really weird...
‘Of Ghost And Gods’ CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Breaching The Asylum (4:04)
2. The Black Sheep (4:33)
3. Marching Through Graveyards (5:22)
4. Thy Serpents Tongue (3:56)
5. Vindication (3:42)
6. Soul Destroyer (3:28)
7. Carrying Crosses (4:31)
8. Shattered (5:02)
9. Hate Spirit (4:36)
10. The World Is A Dying Insect (6:39)
Kataklysm is:
Maurizio Iacono | vocals
JF Degenais | guitar
Stephane Barbe | bass
Oli Beaudoin | drums
The Review
Having been around since forever, Canada
Always a tad blasphemous, and holding nothing sacred, Kataklysm are always a great listen to me. They've never had the same muddied up sound that plagues the death metal genre, always having a very clear sound that just bleeds brutality when they come on my mixes or on my SiriusXM radio when I have it on. And with this new one, holding it to the standard with which they have hoisted before, it stacks up pretty damn well.
‘Of Ghosts and Gods’ opens with a familiar style, using a sound bite that very often gets the blood boiling, and then a great lead in, slow tempos, then break neck into brutalizing your eardrums (Breaching the Asylum). As is very common on their albums, they communicate a sense of battle, even though much of the content isn't necessarily war themed. I can't help but visualize a muddy battlefield, churned to blackened soup by thousands of feet stomping more and more blood into the ground, throughout ‘Breaching the Asylum’ and ‘The Black Sheep’. Maybe I am just really weird...
Sonically, the album holds no surprises to the even fairly casual listener of Kataklysm, as they don't experiment with artistic BS, odd sounds, overly complicated sections, etc. It's dead simple, written to their successful formula Death Metal down your noise canals. Compared to earlier works (pre-04), their style is smoother, more accessible, and a little less grind. Of Ghosts and Gods is very polished, allowing them to present a clear idea of their sound and material, and is a really fun album, even for a casual listener of death metal.
This album honestly performs to expectation, as a listener, and I would have no problems throwing this on at the gym, with friends, ignoring work... ‘The Black Sheep’, ‘Soul Destroyer’, and ‘Marching Through Graveyards’ are my highlights from Kataklysm's ‘Of Ghosts and Gods’.
