UMUR
"The Cleansing" is the debut full-length studio album by US death metal act Catastrophic. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in March 2001. Catastrophic was formed in 1999 by Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres and most of the lineup who recorded Pyrexia´s 1997 "Age of the Wicked" album. Obituary had a longer hiatus between 1997 and 2003, and Peres needed a project for his creative output and therefore teamed up with the guys from Pyrexia and formed Catastrophic.
Stylistically the material on "The Cleansing" is exactly what´d you´d expect it to be, if you´re familiar with Obituary and Pyrexia. Peres has such a distinct sounding guitar tone and playing style that it´s impossible not to think of Obituary on the tracks that he wrote for the album, while Pyrexia´s heavy and aggressive hardcore influenced death metal style is heard on the remaining tracks. Lead vocalist Keith DeVito has to be one of the most aggressive, raw, and powerful sounding death metal vocalists on the scene, but maybe that´s because his vocals are actually more very brutal hardcore shouting, than actual death metal growling. Every word he sings is intelligible and delivered with great passion and conviction. The tracks are predominantly heavy and groove laden death metal, but Catastrophic are also able switch gears and play both fast and blasting sections.
"The Cleansing" features a raw and powerful sounding production, which suits the material perfectly and the musicianship is on a high level on all posts too, so upon conclusion it´s a good quality death metal album. Some tracks are more interesting than others, but the overall quality is relatively high and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.