Cataract "With Triumph Comes Loss" CD
[Metal Blade]
Fuck yeah, this Swiss band keeps getting better and better, playing tight and furious metalcore with more metal than anything hardcore involved. Influences seem to be drawn from a variety of such styles, reminiscent of everything from the speed and vocal bitterness of All Out War to the plodding rhythms and lead lines of Bolt Thrower or the midpaced churn of classic Swedish death metal. "As We Speak" has some nicely panned dual guitar interaction; "Fuel" keeps a consistently killer midpaced stomp and definitely has more of a chugga styled drive to it (which rules); "Saving Shelter" messes with some quick dissonant chords that are an atypical aside that definitely adds a nice shift; and the title track closes the disc with one of the slowest and most Bolt Thrower-esque runs of the entire CD, maintaining a good level of plodding repetition and bringing in a sample for an eventual build into a seven-minute piece. "Vanished in the Dark" unloads a crushing breakdown that gets a little moshier than most of the other tracks, but when "Skies Grow Black" slows things down it comes off sounding closer to the European metalcore genre's more traditional nod to Slayer's heyday. They definitely make strong use of speed as well, with the tremolo picking falling right on the line between thrash and a more contemporary melodic Swedish angle, so things retain a certain level of energy rather than becoming stale. You could safely state that the songs here do tend to sound similar to one another, there's no overall sense of great variety, but they still pull it off and keep things right in your face (helped along by the fact that the songs average right at three minutes each). The recording sounds fucking excellent, too. The drums are nice and taut but pack a good level of density, the vocals are mixed right in with the music and have just enough bite to really define themselves, the bass lurks in the background and definitely adds more punch, and the guitar tone is fucking perfect for this style - heavy, controlled, and dominant. I don't think I'd really change a thing, the mix is totally clear and even, everything sounds really nice for this style of music. The layout doesn't look as strong as their last record did, largely due to a little bit too much type crammed in with not so interesting typefaces, but there are still some nice textures in the visuals and a consistent appearance. Lyrically the songs are all somewhat bleak and cover a range of topics from almost socio-political commentary on war and power to personal turmoil and a general sense of hardship - with brief song explanations included for each track. I'm into it. In the future the only thing I'd really like to see the band try is to push themselves a bit towards branching out into some added diversity, but for what they do they've certainly got it down to a science. (7/10)
Running time - 38:53, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: As We Speak, Fuel, Saving Shelter, With Triumph Comes Loss]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com

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