For you thrash-minded thirtysomethings that can't get enough of SLAYER's "Decade of Aggression" but shudder at any genre with the word "core" in it's name, Metal Blade offers the third full-length from Swiss visionaries CATARACT (see, "visionaries". That was a pun...stay with me, people) as a compromise.

While it make you some time to decipher whether the CATARACT boys are re-creating the sounds of eighties thrash , some obscure European metalcore from the nineties, or just THE HAUNTED, in the end it doesn't really matter. Their brand of mosh-heavy gallops and brief single-tone lead melodies are just as much fun as torching stuff with aerosol cans (definitely not an approved straight-edge behavior, by the way). There's acres of metal trappings buried in them thar riffs and the CD artwork, but CATARACT seems abstractly rooted much deeper in hardcore punk (although putting your finger on why is daunting). Fedi's angry vocal barks bounce along in a screamy monotone that may wear on the AOR-minded types after a couple of listens. But the crunchtacular stop/start King and Hanneman worship in ditties like "Hallow Horns" or "GodEvil" are so goddam glorious, you'll be too busy snappin' yer head back and forth to notice. Recommended.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.cataract-collective.com

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