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KATALEPSY
Autopsychosis

Unique Leader (2013)
Rating: 6.5/10

Katalepsy are a bunch of demented Russian death metallers who’ve been pummeling us senseless since their inception in 2003. This brutal 11-track platter is the band’s first since the 2007 debut Musick Brings Injuries which, not surprisingly, lived up to its name as a true battering ram of a record.

Katalepsy is a formidable quintet which only has one aim in life; to quite literally break bones before removing them from the body of its audience. This really is a bruising and ultra-fast album which comes complete with jarring structures and some of the deathliest grunts I’ve heard this side of that time I got told off by Satan for pissing on his fire.

Now, this is far removed from the old school deathly moans of Death, Morbid Angel, or even the more modern yet seemingly vintage sounds of Grave etc. No, Katalepsy just sound like a massive golem stampeding its way around town not giving a shit about who is in its path. Hell, not even the complex arrangements of Gorguts can compete with the guttural craftsmanship of these guys, but that’s not to say that Katalepsy, in their arrogant approach, are better than the mentioned bands… in fact, far from it.

Katalepsy are very much part of a modern wave of what people are calling death metal. There are the unintelligible vocals, which would seem more suited to one of those extreme gore metal records, while the down-tuned guitars for all their slamming quality do somewhat alienate, but not because of their complexity or staggering brutality.

Instead, Katalepsy can be quite a tricky experience simply because they have too much going on, whether in the form of Evgeny Novikov’s kick-drum and his array of cymbals, or the squealing, jarring and often discordant guitars of Dmitry and Anton, whose sole aim it seems is to simply clamp the listener within some unyielding metallic jaw.

While I’m a sucker for technical prowess and unrelenting power, Katalepsy are only a notch below some of the inaudible gore metal doing the rounds, especially with Igor Filimontsev’s deep-as-hell bellowing. Several spins of Autopsychosis doesn’t really make a blind bit of difference, such is the confounding wealth of string tip-toeing, high levels of ear-splitting distortion and Anatoly Shishilov’s disjointed bass.

I guess I’m too long in the tooth to know what “slam metal” is, but I’ve never been one for categories or pigeon-holing a band, but Katalepsy, despite their drudgery and overwhelming potency, are clearly a modern band, leaving me cold in their wake as tracks such as ‘Unearthly Urge To Supremacy’ rattle by at such a rate that the ears rarely have chance to take it all in.

Despite their creativity, Katalepsy are still very direct with their brutality. There’s no time for pastoral moments, and it’s this lack of variety which makes the 40 or so minutes rather gruelling. Hey, maybe I’m not man enough to appreciate such a high standard of extremity, and in a sense I can see why extreme metal fans will be floored by such a record. However, despite being such a devastating opus, and a vast improvement on the debut, boasting a smattering of old school tinges, this is very much a new machine which begins to grate quite quickly. Katalepsy are a bulldozer of a band but I remain unconvinced by their demolition job.

Neil Arnold

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