Cataract
Kingdom
Metal Blade
Our kingdom for an original idea
If you’ve heard one Cataract album, you’ve heard ’em all. The same goes for reviews of Cataract albums; for all the flowery language, hyperbole and self-referential gimmickry writers like yours truly employ in an attempt to a) accurately and entertainingly assess the music, and b) fill out these blurbs to an editor-pleasing 250 words, it all boils down to the same bottom line when it comes to describing this brand of European metalcore. To quote Mark E. Smith, “Repetition, repetition, repetition-ah.”
Of course, there’s little harm in a metal act adhering rigidly to a formula when it works, and Cataract exploit the hell out of their big idea on album number four, not so much firing on all cylinders as simply motoring comfortably on cruise control. The Hatebreed influence continues to be enormous, yielding typically satisfactory results on tracks like “War of Cultures” and “For Their Sins,” which are dominated by fun, pit-pleasing breakdowns and shout-along choruses. Still, the Swiss quintet seems to thrive when they go all out with their Slayer imitations, which, blatant as they can be (“On This Graveyard” finds the band ripping off “Raining Blood”… again), can make for some attention-grabbing diversions. “Denial of Life” emerges as the one keeper of the bunch, Greg Mäder and Simon Füllemann ably evoking King/Hanneman circa ’92 (with a rare guitar solo!), while lead barker Fedi spouts the usual hardcore clichés. Kingdom is harmless, but it tends to hover dangerously close to sounding pointless. -Adrien Begrand
