FLIPPITYFLOOP, April 25th, 2021
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The writing on this album reminds me a lot of the -core bands that emerged not-too-long-after, in the sense of taking parts that really have zero relation to each other, mashing them together and somehow finding a way to make it work (bands like Ion Dissonance, The Red Chord, Animosity, The End, Despised Icon, etc.). I obviously could be wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the weird noisy part of “As The World Burns” was written like this:
“Guys check this out!” – *JF plays the weird noise*
“Yo what the fuck? That sounds so sick! What should I do…fuck it I’ll just blast.”
“Yeah do that! Okay now what do we do…”
“…let’s just get heavy again. POWER CHORDS!”
Granted, even amongst bizarre moments like that or the electronic intro to “(God)Head,” this IS still a death metal record with many of the same mannerisms that would become staples for modern Kataklysm. What stands out to me though is that all these ideas – even in their infancy – sound fresh and are full of conviction, and they make me wonder how much of the previous records were written by their previous vocalist and just how much of an influence he really had back then.
Everything about this record – from the writing and the time it was written, to Maurizio’s shaky first lead-vocal performance, to the garage-like production job and the album cover that looks like art for a Playstation 2 game (particularly the exploding spiky guy) – not only screams “late 90s/early 2000s,” but also of a band that were rediscovering themselves and were hungry as hell. It’s not flawless, as “Caged In” is super corny for the most part, the rapping during the breakdown in “Imminent Downfall” is out of place, and there’s other cheesy and funny moments scattered throughout the album (see the title of this review), but those are small hiccups when compared to the rest of the album.
About the production – if you’re a brand-new death metal fan, I would suggest listening to the more polished re-recording that the band did later (compiled with the Northern Hyper Blast live album in 2004), as the original recording will likely be too off-putting. On the original, all the instruments – especially the guitars – sound very thin and hollow, similar to how they sound on Breeding The Spawn. Maurizio also couldn’t really growl at the time – he had his throaty rasps, but aside from that he basically just yelled really hard. It’s even funnier when coupled with his ridiculously cheesy lyrics (to be fair, I laugh WITH them rather than AT them).
That said, if you’re a seasoned death metal fan who’s okay with rougher production jobs, I strongly urge you to check out the original recording. I can see why Kataklysm wanted to redo it, but in my opinion the re-recording is a step down. The original added a certain charm to these songs that the re-recording took away (even if re-recording was cleaner and more professional), and was part of a complete package that made Victims Of This Fallen World a truly authentic timestamp in the band’s career.
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rafazardly 