i saw kataklysm play live at this year's wacken. or better, i saw them playing the last two songs of their set. they played at a ridiculous time, 12 a.m. on the third day, and i really tried my best to be there in time but my age and the growing exhaustion at this point of the festival were an opponent too powerful to successfully battle with. i liked the two-song appearance anyway and my anticipation grew considering the release of the new record.
i pre-ordered the new album 'of ghosts and gods' via nuclear blast europe, together with the latest nile record. as the 'what should not be unearthed' vinyl edition faced some delays i had to wait some extra weeks for the kataklysm lp as well. when it arrived it unfortunately had some ugly bends in the cover. however the nile lp came unharmed. anyway, i returned the record for a replacement.
i have to compliment nuclear blast for the very smooth procedure. it was no problem to get a replacement and i even got the postage i paid in order to return the record as a credit balance for my next order. now i finally have a new, shining copy of 'of ghosts and gods'. i really have to say that this album very good and beats its predecessor 'waiting for the end to come' to second place.
die hards will probably say that they again decreased their northern hyperblast in favour of an increasing level of melodies, and right so, but that's just the very thing that makes this record so good to me. somehow it's the right balance between grooving aggression and catchy melodies. check 'thy serpent's tongue', ugh - snakes. gold vinyl out of 200 copies. nuclear blast. 2015.