The Death Metal Reunion Of The Decade
Given the incessant flurry of reunions by the influential old-school masters of death metal, one must wonder why new bands even bother. Sure, the new releases by old bands have been hit and miss as far as quality goes, but it’s great to be able to see the ancient Gods of the genre performing again. When news broke this morning of another great band from the past reforming, I found myself having violent involuntary muscular contractions trying to figure out who it may be… then it hit me… it has to be Kataklysm.
Kataklysm, as most of you know broke up after recording one of the ultimate death metal albums of all-time, 1996′s babies-in-the-woodchipper “Temple Of Knowledge”. A violent cyclone of ‘northern hyperblast’ to contine what they started with “Mystical Gate Of Reincarnation” and “Sorcery”. These albums were so incredibly unpredictable and mind-smashing that they turned my brains into scrambled eggs just trying to perceive what my ears had encountered. It was like getting mauled by hippos while sunbathing in the North Pole. Or something. Then, after vocalist Sylvain Houde left… nothing…
Other members of the band decided to fill the time by forming a band that mixed the straightforward nature of Metallica’s “Black Album” with the excitement of cattle grazing in Wyoming. I think they called the band Kata-somethingorother. It was nowhere near what those musicians were capable of, and while THAT band may have gained a certain amount of popularity, they also cured insomnia for many fans of their previous band.
Dammit, I want a Kataklysm reunion done right. I want to be picked up off my fat ass and violently flung across the room by one of their albums again. Either that, or maybe a reunion from one of the most unheralded death metal bands of all-time. Jumpin’ Jesus. Although it’d be hard for them to top “The Art Of Crucifying”. So maybe Anesthesy? Gomorrah?? Treblinka???
