Kataklysm’s Unconquered: massive hooks and seismic power courtesy of death metal warhorses

Time and a global pandemic cannot wither Canadian veterans Kataklysm on their 14th album Unconquered

Kataklysm: Unconquered album sleeve
(Image: © Nuclear Blast)

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Though they’ve never had a Slaughter Of The Soul or Symbolic moment, there is a lot to be said for Kataklysm’s well-honed reliability over their 29- year career. Furthering their recent penchant for uniting different strands of the death metal spectrum while sounding wholly distinct, 14th effort Unconquered has an unwavering bravado that lives up to its moniker. The muscular melodeath of Cut Me Down and Stitches contrasts with the cybernetic precision of Underneath The Scars and the menacing lurch of The Way Back Home, all the perfect platform for Maurizio Iacono’s vicious vocals. The forlorn Icarus Falling and brooding closer When It’s Over are both underpinned by massive hooks that sink deep, yet when the gates are fully opened for The Killshot and Defiant to be unleashed the results are utterly seismic, thanks to some of the genre’s most proficient and underrated musicians.

Adam Brennan

Rugby, Sean Bean and power ballad superfan Adam has been writing for Hammer since 2007, and has a bad habit of constructing sentences longer than most Dream Theater songs. Can usually be found cowering at the back of gigs in Bristol and Cardiff. Bruce Dickinson once called him a 'sad bastard'.