Released by: Nuclear Blast Records

Release Date: June 1st, 2018

Genre: Death Metal

Line Up:

Maurizio Iacono – vocals
Jean-François Dagenais – guitars
Stephane Barbe – bass
Oli Beaudoin – drums

Tracklist:

1. Guillotine 2:56
2. Outsider 3:57
3. The Last Breath I’ll Take Is Yours 3:15
4. Narcissist 2:42
5. Born To Kill And Destined To Die 3:57
6. In Limbic Resonance 4:51
7. And Then I Saw Blood 4:39
8. What Doesn’t Break Doesn’t Heal 3:21
9. Bend The Arc, Cut The Cord 3:51
10. Achilles Heel 5:18

Every once in a while a band I like will release an album that I don’t really care for. It’s not often because as a music lover I tend to be fairly easy to please with the bands already established as ones I like in my rather lengthy roster of favorites. And though I tend to try to find the positives in what I am listening to (and I tend to be a little more critical of bands I don’t know because it isn’t like I need a new band to follow, right,) I do, from time to time point out the albums that don’t blow me away. This time, sadly, Kataklysm is the band I am going to have to lay out some less than shining stuff about. And remember, this is coming from a fan.

The new album, Meditations, isn’t terrible by any means, it just feels uninspired. I never truly connected with any of the tracks except for “Bend the Arc, Cut the Cord,” while the other songs were just kind of boring. Nothing really stood out, just a full-throttle blast of aggression, but with nothing to really set it apart like most of Kataklysm’s music has in the past. Frankly, I was really disappointed because I enjoyed their last album quite a bit, so I expected more of the same from them, but it just didn’t happen. Each listen I found myself simply ready for it to be over so I could move on to something else.

If you know me, you know I loathe writing negative reviews, but every so often I feel the need to do one, and this was one of those cases. I even spent a bit more time on Meditations than I usually would for an album I don’t get good feelings from based on the first spin… especially a band I admire as I do Kataklysm. Every band has missteps though, and it appears that maybe this one is theirs. I’ll likely not give up hope on it, and maybe I’ll learn to enjoy it later, but as of now, I don’t.

Written by: Chris Martin