Catastrophic

The Cleansing (Metal Blade)
by Tim Den

File this under “this shit’s only getting reviewed because of its pedigree.” Ex-Obituary mastermind Trevor Perez has put together a band featuring four members of Pyrexia, and somehow they all agreed that Obituary’s last album didn’t suck enough and that the world needed something even worse. So we get Catastrophic, a mindless trek through chug-chug-chugville that’d make even the worst metalcore band sound like King Crimson. There’s no muscle or even motivation to speak of behind these dull riffs. Everything drags along like an old lady taking a Sunday drive, and I’d be surprised if the guitar players used both of their hands to play these brain-dead tunes. Man… I remember when Obituary’s Cause of Death and World Demise solidified them as the most grooving, rhythmic machine in death metal. What has age done to poor ol’ Trevor? It doesn’t help that Catastrophic’s vocalist and drummer sound like amateurs compared to John and Donald Tardy, but the riffs, dude… where did they go? I’d say it’s time for Catastrophic to tour with Slayer, Sepultura, and Entombed for the “Genre-Definers Who Suck More Now Than Their Own Imitators.”
(2828 Cochran St. PMB 302 Simi Valley, CA 93065)