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Kataklysm > Victims of This Fallen World > Reviews
Kataklysm - Victims of This Fallen World

IMMINEEENNNNT!!!! DOWNFAAALLLLLLLL!!!! - 92%

FLIPPITYFLOOP, April 25th, 2021

Kataklysm was one of my favourite bands when I was first getting into extreme metal, and at the height of my fandom I had CDs of everything but the Sylvain Houde releases. Over time, my tastes changed and developed and I found that most of their discography didn't hold up – it was all super corny aside from the odd song per album. I eventually sold almost all of my collection, keeping only Waiting For The End To Come (their newest at the time), Epic and The Prophecy as those were the only records that I found to be consistently strong the whole way through.

God damnit motherfucking bitch ass fuck – I shouldn’t have sold Victims. This record absolutely RIPS.

And when you analyze it closely, it’s really not THAT different from what Kataklysm would do later in their career. JF will still play his melodic tremolo riffs, his drop B chuggaramas, and those standard melo-death pedal point riffs (you know, the Slaughter Of The Soul type where you alternate between an open string and a melodic fretted note). Max is gonna groove. Then he’s gonna blast, and here comes the flurry of double bass! Maurizio’s lyrics are knuckle-draggy as ever, and his themes of betrayal, rebellion, defiance and “the walls closing in” are the same now as they were over 20 years ago.

But what’s worth noting here is the time period that Victims was written, being right after Sylvain Houde left the band. If you compare this album to the releases before it, you’ll of course notice SOME parallels in musical style (as the personnel didn’t change THAT much), but the spastic nature of the song writing is a huge shift from the meticulously crafted compositions of before that combined brutality and melody with an old-school flair. Instead this is a lot more disoriented, unorganized, chaotic and in a way feels unplanned.

But in this case, none of that is a bad thing at all. The writing on this album reminds me a lot of the -core bands that emerged not-too-long-after, in the sense of taking parts that really have zero relation to each other, mashing them together and somehow finding a way to make it work (bands like Ion Dissonance, The Red Chord, Animosity, The End, Despised Icon, etc.). I obviously could be wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the weird noisy part of “As The World Burns” was written like this:

“Guys check this out!” - *JF plays the weird noise*
“Yo what the fuck? That sounds so sick! What should I do…fuck it I’ll just blast.”
“Yeah do that! Okay now what do we do…”
“…let’s just get heavy again. POWER CHORDS!”


Granted, even amongst bizarre moments like that or the electronic intro to "(God)Head," this IS still a death metal record with many of the same mannerisms that would become staples for modern Kataklysm. What stands out to me though is that all these ideas – even in their infancy – sound fresh and are full of conviction, and they make me wonder how much of the previous records were written by their previous vocalist and just how much of an influence he really had back then.

Everything about this record – from the writing and the time it was written, to Maurizio’s shaky first lead-vocal performance, to the garage-like production job and the album cover that looks like art for a Playstation 2 game (particularly the exploding spiky guy) – not only screams “late 90s/early 2000s,” but also of a band that were rediscovering themselves and were hungry as hell. It’s not flawless, as “Caged In” is super corny for the most part, the rapping during the breakdown in “Imminent Downfall” is out of place, and there's other cheesy and funny moments scattered throughout the album (see the title of this review), but those are small hiccups when compared to the rest of the album.

About the production – if you’re a brand-new death metal fan, I would suggest listening to the more polished re-recording that the band did later (compiled with the Northern Hyper Blast live album in 2004), as the original recording will likely be too off-putting. On the original, all the instruments – especially the guitars – sound very thin and hollow, similar to how they sound on Breeding The Spawn. Maurizio also couldn’t really growl at the time – he had his throaty rasps, but aside from that he basically just yelled really hard. It’s even funnier when coupled with his ridiculously cheesy lyrics (to be fair, I laugh WITH them rather than AT them).

That said, if you’re a seasoned death metal fan who’s okay with rougher production jobs, I strongly urge you to check out the original recording. I can see why Kataklysm wanted to redo it, but in my opinion the re-recording is a step down. The original added a certain charm to these songs that the re-recording took away (even if re-recording was cleaner and more professional), and was part of a complete package that made Victims Of This Fallen World a truly authentic timestamp in the band’s career.

Overall, you can say that this album is messy, unorganized, juvenile and honestly a bit of a clusterfuck, and you’d be right to say those things. But one thing you absolutely cannot say is that it’s ingenuine. This is the type of album that can only be written by guys that are young and inexperienced, but are ambitious, inspired, and god damnit did they ever have heart. I would go as far as to say that not only is Victims Of This Fallen World the most underrated album in Kataklysm’s discography, but also the most honest record they've ever made. I guess you could say it’s…

”EXTREME!! TO! THE! CORE!!!” *Crash!Crash!Crash!* “BLYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Kataklysm's season of change - 80%

Kishmakay, May 31st, 2005

This album displays a very different Kataklysm. Here is where the band decided to move towards a more melodic sound exchanging their chaotic song structure for groove. They are starting to sound here a bit similar to Benediction but with more complex, melodic and layered riffage.

Maurizio Iacono's voice shifts from growling Barney Greenway to screeching Glen Benton with mastery in excellent double vocals. Sometimes screaming in both styles at the same time.

Now this might be a shock for the fans of the old Kataklysm style...

There are no really weak songs in the album. Only some weak passages.
The drums are very good, except by the noisy but inexpressive hyperblasts. And some of the groovy parts here and there are just TOO GROOVY, sounding sometimes like hip hop or rap played with distorted guitars (but relax, it is not).

Some parts in "Caged In" sound like New York streets' rap giving the song something like a Biohazard vibe. The funny thing is that even though I completely despise rap I do find this song very interesting.

The album is still overall excellent. And I confess I listen to it a lot more than their older childish XUL stuff. Very brutal passages blended in intelligent, creative guitar riffs and harmonics fuse Melodic Swedish Death Metal style with modern Grindcore.

The last two tracks are slower than the rest of the album but both excellent compositions.

"I remember" is a very good track. Very different from what they have been doing in their previous releases. There is even a violin sound in it.

The next track "World Treason 2" is very different too and maybe even better. It is a beautiful and simple instrumental track, sounding like a crossbreed of Megadeth's and Hypocrisy's slow tunes.

This album is for the open-minded.