Kataxu - Hunger of Elements
Seems to be getting great reviews:
"If you’re already familiar with Emperor’s debut masterpiece then you can pretty much already know what to expect from Kataxu; majestically beautiful symphonic synths, raging fast drums and melodic guitars, evilly screamed vocals, and a somewhat rawer production. One notably aspect of Kataxu’s work though is just how epic it is. It seems like things are always moving towards something larger-than-life as these lengthy songs unfold. Plus the instrumental synthesized pieces have the same heroic grandiose feelings to them that really make your mind wander to dimensions and places unknown."
"A sense of melancholy is overrunning the album through its whole duration, with the keyboards evoking an intense astral feeling, an apocalyptic atmosphere of sounds, visions and emotions. The mystic feeling of the overall aesthetic of "Hunger Of Elements" complete the stunning and inspired guitar riffs that move in the renowned railway black metal pathways, while the rhythm section lends the ideal groove to the songs with the drumming being either raging or just accompanying, pacing in any tempo. The vocals are extreme and exceptionally expressive, having a desperate sense in the way they sound, adding another part in the puzzle of Kataxu's mystical melancholy, leading to the absolute astral apocalypse.
Compositions like the lengthy, atmospheric and raging hymns "In My Dungeon", "Below The Tree Of Life" and "The Manifesto Of The Unity", with the keyboard melodies overrunning the listener, or the dreamy synth-based instrumental illusions "In Arms Of The Astral World", "Nightsky" and "The Breath Of Atlantis" have been given life to either make you lose yourself in a dreamland or a nightmarish universe with their affected/complex structure and intense atmosphere. "Hunger Of Elements" is a must-have album for the majestic black metal adorers from a band that knows how to play in an unerring way this specific genre."
"This is an ideal demonstration of one of black metal’s greatest achievements, the conflation of agonizing constraint and glorious excess, both musically and emotionally. To have an album with artwork depicting celestial phenomena and begin with a song called “In My Dungeon” speaks of either a cunning or accidental design; either way the effect is the same. The songs are epic in length and also demonstrate competent arrangement, evoking an at times exhilarating mystical excitement. Fans of serious and cold symphonic black metal will find much to admire on this release."
"The extreme metal community may have lost its fondness for epic black metal swathed in keyboards these last few years, and the glut of sub-par rubbish has only itself to blame for effectively killing more worthy bands of recognition. But quality will always out, and Kataxu's competent and well placed grounding in synth textures lends immensely to their already powerful guitar and percussion maelstrom. Rather than a chaotic attack however, this band have rather reined in their tracks under tight control, making the hit a more powerful and concise one, even in the context of their lengthy works. Consider 'Under the Tree of Life', where numerous layered vocals increase in aggression before culminating in a final barbarous assault, and one finds evidence of a band with quite some structural savvy. A cut above the standard NSBM crowd this certainly is, though whether the band still embrace their one time ideological connection is open to debate given the downplaying of the subject matter for this debut. 'Hunger of Elements' is the product of a purely spatial and cosmological mindset, and the ambient tracks herein aid the feeling of scale and size fittingly. Certainly worth purchase by the more serious BM'ers, this has much to recommend. Approached from the point of view the artwork provides, this cd can at times prove both stirring and evocative in its own stellar way."
anyone actually heard it?
