Review by Ben for Kataklysm - Temple of Knowledge (Kataklysm Part III) (1996)

Kataklysm repeat the same mistakes as on Sorcery. Wonderfully violent yet entirely unstructured madness that's easily forgotten.

Kataklysm's debut full length album Sorcery, while being ridiculously brutal, annoyed me. On the one hand, it was impressive the way it so chaotically mixed melody into pure, unadulterated violence. But as remarkable as it appeared initially, the lack of cohesion in the song writing and the completely psychotic approach of vocalist Sylvain Houde didn't allow the music to really sink in. I was sure the band was one to watch though and figured the follow-up would find Kataklysm in a more restrained, refined form. It's immediately apparent on first listen to The Temple of Knowledge that this assumption couldn't be further from the truth. All that showed promise on Sorcery is still intact, but then everything I disliked about the debut has if anything, been ramped up to the max!

Once again, we have stupendous musicianship. Crushing riffs and nice melodies are backed by ferocious drumming with a focus on blastbeats. The production is ok, although the guitars get hidden behind the drums and vocals at times. When I'm allowed to focus on the riffs, I find a lot to enjoy and most tracks have moments where it all comes together nicely. But just as on Sorcery, there just isn't enough to differentiate tracks and the completely unstructured way of putting things together means it just isn't memorable at all. Worst of all though, Sylvain puts in the most laughable, over the top vocal performance I think I've ever heard. He simply vomits lyrics out in such a rush and so frantically that it makes absolutely no difference what's going on behind him. It's almost impossible to focus on anything while he's relentlessly screaming, growling and acting like a retarded demon for the entire running time.

There are plenty out there that think this is Kataklysm's best album and one of the finest pieces of death metal available to man. By now it should be clearly apparent that I'm not one of those people. Cryptopsy did the obscenely brutal thing way better than this and I don't think any album is successful if you can't remember any of it after the last track is completed. To be honest, I'd rather not! The best thing the band ever did was let Sylvain go after this release and simplify their music. That may sound like a copout, but sometimes it's clearly apparent that less is more. To prove that point nicely, I'll finish this review right here.