Canadian Northern Hyperblast (Melodic Death Metal) band KATAKLYSM are back for more, their follow up to the 2013 album "Waiting For The End To Come" is finally here and "Of Ghosts And Gods" is ready to spill blood in the pits. In traditional KATAKLYSM fashion the album opens with a movie sample (that I don't recognise) before destroying your neck, so at least they give you a few precious seconds to stretch your muscles before the workout starts.

So far there's a few things going on with this album, first of all a concept video is being released for each song leading up to the day the album is officially released. Secondly, the album already has multiple singles released for jam out to that I'm not going to be talking about because at this moment you can judge them all for yourself, I want to tell you about what you might not know yet. Let's start with a march with "Marching Through Graveyards" this is a song that takes heavy advantage of the power that the instruments can have with a whole centre section relying solely on instrumentals including a small section that the bass is highly prominent. The chorus of the song has one of the best riffs you'll hear throughout the album that I can't begin to explain and has tradition vocals from Maurizio Lacono including his signature sort of scream, high growl thing. The outro to the song is another instrumental section that is heavy and pit inducing, I started one with the wall and my chair just because it does something to you. Another song to talk about is "Carrying Crosses," it's a song that couldn't be more obvious that it's telling a narrative story. This is a song that, unlike the last song mentioned, relies more on what the vocals can say. You can assume that "I'm carrying crosses, for you" means the lyrics are a narrative of Jesus, but it's not very obvious considering anyone can take the blame of the world the way Jesus did and be forgotten simply because they're not the "son of god."

With the majority of the concept videos out at this point, the world is starting to hear more and more from "Of Ghosts and Gods," including some of the more traditional KATAKLYSM songs like "The Black Sheep" and "Breaching The Asylum" but there is a specific song on this album, the first official single called "Thy Serpents Tongue" that is a mix between what's to be expected from KATAKLYSM, your heavy Northern Hyperblast Death Metal but the introduction sounds like a nod to SLIPKNOT and their first single from their most recent album, starting with a guitar part that sounds like the intro to "The Negative One" before distinguishing itself as its own. Closing out the album is the song "The World Is A Dying Insect," which opens with some screeching before a bass (I think) intro kicks in, followed by drums and finally the guitar. This song has an amazing level of build up before it kicks into gear involving a break of silence that I can only expect will cause fans live to shout, shout, let it all out... Yup. The song as a whole is pretty slow pace especially for KATAKLYSM, it's a very different style of song from them that I personally highly approve of, it sound like not only an album closer, but a concert closer. I can only imagine how fans would react to this song, its the kind of song that would march an army into war, the venues on the bands upcoming tour may all end up absolutely destroyed due to this song. Although the song doesn't pick up very much, its enjoyable, its new and it's something you don't ever hear on a KATAKLYSM album, fans are in for a treat with this album and the new sound it blends with the old.

KATAKLYSM are back with one of their strongest albums to date and if you missed the news, they're also hitting the road with BELPHEGOR in North America in a couple months. Awesome album, amazing lineup, insane Metal. KATAKLYSM are on top of the world right now. Wacken here they come, North America and the rest of the world to follow, prepare for destruction and devastation.