Katatura: In Two Minds

A bleak, charred, wasted soundscape opens German groove metallers Katatura's stomping debut, hollow spoken word joining harsh, textured noise and ghostly guitar atmospherics to set the tone for a generally menacing listen. The bestial march of 'Direction Of Death' and the more urgent, midpaced 'Unavoidable Delay' announce a greater presence and extremity, buzzsaw guitars, percussive bass and tightly syncopated drums providing a crushing backdrop for Andreas Glathe's savagely roared announcements of stagnancy and societal decay. Within the first three tracks, Katatura deliver a fearsome statement of intent before diving headfirst into the album proper.

The body of In Two Minds is hammering, heavy, and rhythmically devastating - but is perhaps too consistent in this delivery. In many ways, Katatura are returning the djent movement to its roots; the ultra-compressed production and nimble-fingered technical aspirations of many of their peers have been stripped away to something that truly recalls Meshuggah themselves during their slowest, most groove-intensive moments. But Katatura take things a step further when the leviathan heaviness is left behind. Amid the many face-smashing headbangers lurk pieces of bass or clean guitar work that create quite different effects, from almost jazzlike arrangements to sinister ambient passages that evoke subtle psychosis and mental disarray. This is largely accomplished through the band's rejection of traditional scalar structures in favour of exploring the atonal spectrum. This may sound ambitious, but it is managed quite tastefully, creating a less restricted, more thoughtful style of riff a la Blotted Science or perhaps Spastic Ink at their most weighty.

These aspects of the various compositions are sometimes denied enough space to shine, unfortunately, threatening to collapse under the weight of mammoth riff after mammoth riff. Heavier, arrhythmic parts are abundant enough to threaten to strangle the more restrained ideas on occasion. That said, if all one normally wants from a CD is something to smash one's face in, this is unquestionably a good record for the task (and offers plenty of food for thought besides).

Album highlights include the aforementioned 'Unavoidable Delay', the cerebrally inflected bass solo 'Allusion', the vicious, rolling 'Aegrotatio', and the ten-minute behemoth 'Katatura'. This last, eponymous track delivers a rousing, almost Nietzschean message that transcends nihilism and calls for freedom and defiance, all the while delivering the most chilling atmospheres and elephantine breakdowns in this entire demented journey.

Repetitive at times it may be, but In Two Minds knows how to break the monotony when it really needs to, and contains a wealth of deliciously brutal moments. This album is cutting, primal, and laced with an undeniable sense of groove; it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're into the harsher, heavier, more dissonant sides of music, this is a must-have.