Kataklysm / Serenity in Fire
Album: Serenity in Fire   Collection:General
Artist:Kataklysm   Added:Mar 2004
Label:Nuclear Blast  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2004-04-12 Pull Date: 2004-06-14 Charts: Loud
Week Ending: Jun 6 May 30 May 23 May 16 Apr 25 Apr 18
Airplays: 1 1 1 1 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 09, 2005: The Sun Never Sets On Cool
The Tragedy I Preach
4. May 20, 2004: The Triumph Of Time Over Space
Seconds From the End
2. Jun 02, 2004: Baptism of Solitude
The Resurrected
5. May 13, 2004: The Triumph of Time Over Space
As I Slither
3. May 27, 2004: The Triumph Of Time Over Space
Seconds From the End
6. Apr 22, 2004: The Triumph Of Time Over Space
Under the Bleeding Sun

Album Review
Orges
Reviewed 2004-03-27
Kataklysm – Serenity in Fire (Nuclear Blast)
Oh yeah! Hyper-blasting, head-crushing, vomit-inducing motherfucking death metal! This stuff is unbelievable! Excellent guitars, drums, bass, and cool vocals. The guitars, actually, are the only thing that’s maybe a little lacking, but that’s only because the drumming is so out of this world, it’s gonna take us normal humans a few years to catch up to it. In fact, I’d list that as the only drawback to the album: it seems a lot of the songs are structured around the drummer going ape-shit (and ape-shit he goes, like you wouldn’t believe... read on).
Tracks:
1) Awesome sample to start, and then driving song with killer double bass.
2) Wow! Now, I’m not a drummer, but I possess some basic drumming knowledge, and I think I can analyze a drum part rather competently. So the intro to this song... it’s a blast beat, obviously. But he’s hitting the snare at the same rate as the double bass, so that requires two hands, but I’m pretty sure I can also hear a cymbal in there, so that means he has three hands, right? Right? I mean, come on! Seriously, this is the fastest blast I’ve ever heard. Hence, hyper blast! Move over Tim Yeung, Pete Sandoval, Kevin Talley, and anyone else I’m forgetting. There’s a new top dog in town. And he’s French-Canadian. Hahahahahaha....
3) Slower, groove-laden, doomy start, and a pretty old-school riff.
4) More melodic guitar riff, and really cool vocals. I can actually understand what he’s growling!
5) Staccato intro, then double bass madness, and then more guitar triplets.
6) A more mid-tempo song, reminds me a lot of Hypocrisy with lots of screaming and almost-gang-shouted vocals.
7) Ooooh, it’s the hyper blast again! Holy shit, I had almost forgotten how fast and flawless that thing is. Wow, I still can’t get over it. It kinda overpowers the rest of the song, which is a shame since this is a great song.
8) Sounds like Sepultura a lot (Max-era Sep, of course). The little staccato thing they do in the middle is amazing. The hyper blast rears it’s pretty head again at the –1:08 mark, and wow, it kicks ass again.
9) Another great sample to start an amazing song. Slow doomy start with tortured vocals, and then picks up, but never too fast, just kinda hovers around your head like an ugly cloud and from time to time the riffs rain fire and brimstone on your head.
10) Another fast start, and then it slows down some. Eventually enters a guitar part that’s damn-near black metal, it’s so scorching. A little bit of a call-and-return, if you wanna call it that, in some of the verses. The downtuned riffs in the midsection are out of this world, they create this stellar breakdown effect, it had me breaking things in no time.

Did some research on the drumming style. Apparently this “hyper blast” is called a one-handed roll blast. ONE-HAND! Holy crap!

Track Listing
1. The Ambassador of Pain   6. Serenity in Fire
2. The Resurrected   7. Blood on the Swans
3. As I Slither   8. Seconds From the End
4. For All Our Sins   9. The Tragedy I Preach
5. The Night They Returned   10. Under the Bleeding Sun