On the surface, Florida’s Catalepsy, with their scrawled cookie cutter logo, 3 guitars (apparently dropped to G sharp, whatever that means), label affiliation (Jamey Jasta runs Stillborn), looks and deathcore tag seem like just another band of death metal wanna be kids riding the current trend of brutal deathcore along the lines of Rose Funeral, Suicide Silence, Eternal Lord, Annotations of an Autopsy, A Different Breed of Killer, Carnifex and such. However, Iniquity ends up being up close to Whitechapel’s This Is Exile, for sheer punishment and power.
What sets Catalepsy apart is the vocals and lyrics of Josh Anderson. While most deathcore/metalcore either tends to be Christian or either forced death metal clichés, Catalepsy are in fact, forcefully anti-Christian/religion. Vocalist Josh Anderson must have been abused by a Catholic priest or something as he bellows some truly venomous lyrics with the tangible power of a blast furnace, where I could literally feel his hate filled hot breath emanate from the CD. In fact, he reminded me of Built Upon Frustration’s former singer Jason Hominisky as far as sheer vocal power as he belts out stuff like “If he died for your sins-WHERE THE FUCK IS HE NOW?” (“Whispers”), and “I cannot be convinced to worship a lie, your fucking lies. Once I prayed to your god to save me. My empty words fallen on deaf ears. Once I prayed to your god to save me. I will not bow down to your religion” (“Immolate”); its like they are lyrical anti-With Blood Comes Cleansing, but with the same musical intensity.
Still, musically, Catalepsy are your standard rumble chug, blast band hardcore influenced death metal band, but there is a definite sense of palpable heaviness and heft that isn’t trying too hard, and the Brian Elliott/Mana Studios production allows the three guitars to be as dense and powerful as Whitechapels’s own three pronged attack. They aren’t trying to be too noodly, melodic or ATG-ish, but get straight to some competent blast beats (“Iniquity”, “Punishment”) centered around HUGE breakdown and bassdrops. It’s relatively simple, but very effective, and comes across as less forced and more honest than say, Annotations of an Autopsy. Tracks like “Trust”, “Architect”, “11;16”, and pummeling closer “Dethroat” are just straight forward short bursts of aggression and only brief intermission “Endtime” allows respite.
Iniquity isn’t going to change the genre or convert deathcore haters, but for fans of the style, this is a pretty essential effort to tide you over until This Is Exile (which is well worth the wait….).
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YEARS SPENT COLD and CARNIFEX = HEAVIEST DEATHCORE BANDS, eh this bands dumb meathead deathcore they sound like suicide silence when they did their ep
on Jun 27th, 2008 at 16:58This was a decent suprise and proof that not every single of these bands sound like old JFAC and SS
on Jun 28th, 2008 at 00:13but they do sound like ss not new ss but old ss
on Jun 28th, 2008 at 14:26Old review, but I just picked this album up again and realized how good it is. I didn’t think much of it before, but as you said, the vocals really go a long way towards making this one worthwhile. The lyrics too, DAMN! Even though I’m a christian myself, I can respect the absolute venom this guy spews.
And the breakdown at the end of “Trust”….ARGH
on Mar 26th, 2009 at 16:32