The Cleansing

In case you don't know, this is that one band that Trevor Peres started while Obituary was in its eight year coma (which it probably should never have woken up from) that no one really gives a shit about because it's so unexciting. Apparently when mid-era Obituary ended Trevor decided that albums like 'World Demise' and 'Back From The Dead' were just so interesting he needed to start a band and release an album that sounds exactly like them. Unlike everyone else in the world, Trevor was unaware that no one cares about Obituary post-'Cause Of Death', and due to this oversight, we now have Catastrophic, a band who has literally no fans anywhere in the world at all.

The material on this album is EXACTLY like mid-era Obituary: all groove and slight thrashiness that never manages to go anywhere interesting, and definitely for lack of trying. Catastrophic attempts to be sludgy and heavy, but much like Obituary's odious 'Xecutioner's Return', it fails miserably because not only is there no effort put into the songwriting, there's no conviction in the playing at all. It's utterly mediocre on every level. Like a number of other albums I've heard, it's death metal for people who think that all it takes to make a decent album is heavy riffs and growls. Speaking of growls, Keith DeVito DESPERATELY tries to sound like John Tardy on this album, but fails and instead sounds strained and vaguely whiny. On a positive note, the lyrics are occasionally interesting, not that they have any particular relevance to the music.

Honestly, who thinks material like this is interesting? This is the sort of thing I'd expect to be released on Pavement sometime in 1996, not by Metal Blade after the turn of the millennium. It's not too surprising to see that Catastrophic is now signed to Napalm Records, a label known for its unfailing mediocrity and inability to release anything of real note (don't bother bringing up Summoning). There's nothing to say about this album: it's as generic as generic gets. Even the logo is boring.

When I heard about the Obituary split I was terribly sad, but then when I discovered that Trevor Perez had formed a new band I began to be curious. Reading the interviews he said that this project has some of the same Obituary influences along with more personal ones. Well, he was right because the opener is in pure Obituary style with down tempo and muddy guitar sound (the main riffs is so similar to Back From The Dead song…), while the following “Balancing The Furies” features grind attitude and blast beats too…

The music is quite enjoyable anyway, without being spectacular…the main problem is that the riffs have not the same catchy lines as in Obituary and the vocalist tries in all the ways to imitate original Tardy’s vocals but with a more raw and less screamed touch. Even the drums sound wants to be wooden like the Obituary’s one, on the snare drum in particular, but it’s not powerful enough in the volumes, being a bit reduced to the background.

“Lab Rats” anyway has the privilege of being quite original with stopped tempo and always sludgy guitars sounds. The old influences in “Messiah Pacified” are very good and more audible, as on the title track. “Pain Factor” and “Blood Maidens” contain faster, grind tempo parts and more brutal growls. The last two, morbid, doom, rotten and muddy tracks put an end to an album that, even without shining in originality is quite good and it’s recommended to any Obituary fan.