Kataplexis

Tremolo picking, double-bass galore, and the deepest growls and highest shrieks this side of the TransCanada highway are all available in healthy doses in Kataplexis’ music. Kataplexis play a unique blend of death metal and Grindcore, but judging by their music, they seem to transcend the genre boundaries and focus on the music itself rather than on its genre.

Vocalist Kyle Ball goes from growls to powerful shrieks instantly, while the guitar assault of Jordan Schritt and Erik Anderson balances between melody and technicality. The guitars are definitely the main highlight of the songs, and they range from thrashy to slow as seen in Force Fed and PST.  The drums, although not anything revolutionary to the genre, are still extremely technical and get the job done. Bassist Rory Babkirk is a skilled bass player, but the Grindcore genre is notorious for having bass lines mixed very low. Nevertheless, Babkirk’s bass lines in songs like Razor Ramone, along with Dave Callahan’s furious drum fills, provide a great rhythm section that adds to the overall heaviness and skill of the music.

Having played with bands like The Black Dahlia Murder, Impaled, and Cattle Decapitation, Kataplexis have the necessary experience and talent needed to branch out and make a name for themselves in the metal world.

Kataplexis played their last show (for this year) at Vern’s on November 4th, and are currently in the pre-production stage of their upcoming full-length album. You can listen to Kataplexis’ music at http://www.myspace.com/kataplexis.

-M