Review Summary: All about that bass
I think it is important to clue you in as to who exactly Extinction Level Event is and why they are 'unique'. They have a drummer. They have a vocalist. And they have a bass player. Sorry, they have THREE bass players. For those of you thinking the joke couldn't get any worse, they have adequately labeled themselves as 'Clank', a sub-genre of a sub-genre known as 'Djent'. Which, in itself, is hardly considered a sub-genre by many in the metal community. I am struggling to write this review with a straight face thus far but I must push on.
If any of you have ever heard the song 'Hell Below' by Periphery (which I believe involves guitars drop-tuned over a whole octave below standard tuning), you may have an idea as to how this album might sound, minus the clean vocals. The sound is thick, chunky, slow, and crushing. Every song uses odd time signatures and poly-rhythms. The bassists also seem for the most part, entirely unaware that their instruments carry more than one string. But based on the ridiculous levels of LSD that must have plagued the studio during the planning for this album, it is of no surprise. As silly as the concept of this release is, Extinction have crafted an album that has a surprising level of depth to it. While it is your standard, Djent (or should I now say Clank?) affair, the bass tone and a small, yet clever use of atonal dissonance keeps The Catalyst an interesting, albeit doltish listen.
The production on this album is clean; as seem to be all, modern, Meshuggah-influenced releases. The vocalist also seems heavily influenced by Meshuggah; a near mirror of the work portrayed on Koloss with a little more treble and a little less beard. Which I would assume is the balance for the ridiculous amounts of man-fur blasting out of the three bass guitars. The bass guitars have been mixed into The Catalyst very well, every bass audible when playing separately, yet chunky as cheese when uniform. The drums, while unexceptional in technicality, are punchy and don't sound overly produced.
It is hard to review an album that was designed as a joke (if you haven't seen Extinction's music video for 'Entropy', take a look with an open mind), yet ultimately has been executed as a serious product. In a nutshell, it is an unreleased, drop-tuned, down-tempo'd, Meshuggah album (generalizing a little). It doesn't do anything particularly wrong, or original, or great. It does, however, provide a good laugh for anyone open to something completely silly and will most definitely leave a place shaking when blasted through a sub or two. And it will most certainly get Glenn Fricker's panties in a twist.
