Catalepsis
Inner Deception
6.9
Despite having an odd and disturbingly homoerotic picture on their Encyclopedia Metallum page, Italy's Catalepsis still impressed me, and their happy-go-lucky sometimes-melodic death/thrash is enjoyable and well-crafted. These guys blend rollicking simple and catchy riffs with their death and thrash leanings, creating a memorable blend of quality metal. It ain’t changing the world, but it’s having a good time, and I’m willing to settle for that today.
Yet another four-song release—my third to review in the past week, with one more to go—Inner Deception spans only eighteen minutes. With moments that remind me of Defleshed and some melodic modern thrash riffing that reminds me of The Haunted, these guys tread Scandinavian thrash ground. Of the four songs, the first two ("Mental Death" and "Black Ravens") are the most developed. "Purifying Rain" features a melody line that pushes vocalist Mattia into a higher register, a shrieking that begins to grate on my nerves. Also, there are a moments in each song where the band needs to tighten up a bit, to hit the changes a little more exactly to punch things up. (The lead guitar work particularly could use some tweaking—it’s sloppy and off the beat in several spots.) For a demo, aside from the aforementioned looseness in spots, the production is above average.
There’s potential for Catalepsis to make some pretty fun death/thrash records (like Defleshed), even if their take on that particular style isn’t the most original thing around (again, like Defleshed). All in all, this is a good start from a young band, and I’d say they’re worthy of a little attention and, with some adjustments and some growth, they’re on the right path to be worthy of a good bit more.
