Review for the brand new album from Kattlik titled, Glearing, available here!
As the path wanders beneath your feet, you feel a sense of calm wash over you. Behind you was once the stresses of the day, the city life, your shitty boss, maybe a particular person that you just needed to get away from, or even just a need for some calm and quiet, a reconnection with nature, that's what you're in search of. The crisp air and dry leaves crunching beneath your feet is intoxicating. As you plod further along this path you're treading, you feel the need to reflect, you find yourself a clearing and survey the area. Little bits of timber and kindling are what you now need as you circle your little hub away from it all. Once the roaring fire is set ablaze, you can now hear the ancient voices of the woods speak to your soul. Kattlik seems to be on a journey to help us all reconnect with these long lost feelings that were once so innate within all of us, to help recreate the roaring fire that once burned in all of our souls. Music has a way of bringing out primal feelings that help us all to connect ourselves to the very earth which we walk upon, and this new album from Kattlik, Glearing, is one such example of these hymns of nature, but of the metal sort.
We begin our journey of the soul with the albums opening track, Sangre. A soul in need of rest is how I can immediately describe the vibe of this track. Seemingly pulling inspirations from, what I hear to be, the likes of both old Enslaved and old Entombed, the classic European pagan death metal sounds from back in the day, with a slight nod to Amon Amarth. Sangre has a heavy handed attack from the deep tones from the guitars, they crunch away in a punishing display of both brutality and beauty, highlighting some great guitar riffing and well placed and thought out guitar solos to carry those riffs until a beautiful mid song change-up. An almost bluesy sounding interlude is played that seems to entrance you. But remember, nature is fierce, and the guitars come roaring back in to break the calm and hit you right in the chin. This song is a solid introduction to what Kattlik are bringing to the table with this album.
Moving along, we come to Av Jord. I can definitely hear the doom metal influence in Kattlik's music, so it's not purely death metal. Pounding riffs and hammering drums hit home on this track with some rather powerful and emotional guitar melodies accompanying equally emotional and painful vocals on this song. This track definitely gives off those feelings of anguish and longing for something. The overall flow of this song is really nice, it has a solid groove all the way through that is simply satisfying to hear. I can already tell that this is definitely going to be one of those classic "wanderlust" feeling albums.
The next track, Gotas, starts off with a vicious attack straight away until it slams on the breaks and presents to you an eerie feeling piece of music for the duration of this song. A sense of unnerving peril sinks in as you listen to this one, something is definitely not right here, it keeps you feeling uneasy and then out of nowhere it brings the heaviness in to play with your senses for a bit before luring you back in to those feelings of despair. This is a unique track. These are the types of songs that stand out on a bands albums. The ones that make you ask yourself, "what the hell did I just listen to?..... I want to hear that again!". Gotas is one that you just have to hear for yourself, it's rather difficult to put this one into words that can do it justice. You'll have to trust me with this one, give it a listen here.
After that exquisite piece of music, Lambs is up next. Lambs hits a lot like a traditional death metal song should. Full of tremolo blasting riffs, slick grooves, and heavy production all around, this one hears Kattlik firing on all cylinders. A rather nasty mid section break down helps mix up the blasting riffage and keeps this song even more interesting with some genius guitar parts complete with a nice solo to boot. This track is definitely one that will smash your face in without mercy, good job guys!
Nearing The Aftermath almost seems like it musically just flows from the ending of the previous track, like one entity rather than two separate songs. I'm hearing a bit of classic Grave on this track as it slows things down again just a tad as the riffs bounce back and forth between up-tempo guitar work and those doomy sounding riffs. The drums and bass on this track are the stand out elements I can hear on this song, both are just fun sounding and very creative to listen to. This one is a straight to the point song that was just pleasing to the ears.
One thing is certain with Kattlik, they definitely know how to write opening riffs that hook and pull you in. Each song on this album has these moments. Surrounded continues this practice with a galloping of a good time riff that hits like a freight train. This track seems to almost bring in old school thrash metal vibes mixed in with their death and doom elements making a most welcome addition to this albums arsenal. This track just might be my favorite one on this release. The riffs keep you bobbing your head all the way through until the ending of this song. It brought a heavy groove that this album needed and it delivered on the goods in spades.
The albums final track, Det Som Finns Kvar, finds Kattlik expanding on their catchy opening riffs formula and one-upping themselves in the process with a fantastic display of song writing. This song definitely feels more structured and thought out than the previous tracks. Det Som Finns Kvar seems to feel like a showcase of killer riffs to really focus on closing out this album for them on a high note. If this album were to be compared to a war generals battle plan, then this track would be the final battle where the general pinches the enemy and goes in for the kill from all sides. This track is displaying the creativeness of Kattlik and highlighting their knack for grabbing the listener until the final notes are played as if their guitars are telling a story to the audience.
Glearing is a very strong collection of songs from Kattlik. I was finding myself enjoying even the simplest of moments on this album simply due to the structure of the songs themselves. This music may not be for everyone, however. If you go into this album expecting just balls to the wall death metal, then you are looking in the wrong place for that. Kattlik indulges in their music in such a way to create atmosphere to carry the songs forward with a blending of doom type riffs and old school death metal, you have to sit back and remember to appreciate a good riff for how heavy and oppressive it can sound. With that being said, I personally enjoyed this album and their ability to capture those old school sounds while highlighting their knowhow on utilizing good riffs and riding them out while building intensity and painting a picture with their music. I give this new album of Kattlik's a solid 8 out of 10. The way it tugs on you emotionally at times, leaves you feeling in dismay and somewhat tortured at other times, then pulling you in for the kill with those heavy riffs all while blasting these songs made for quite a unique listening experience. I suggest heading on over and giving them a listening right here and following them on their social media pages and hearing for yourself what Kattlik is all about.
Review written by Joshuah Jones, the bassist of The Obsidian Resurrection.
