Castrofate - Cataclysmic Insanity Review
Posted by Dan Marsicano on 07.18.2008
East Coast metallers Castrofate recently released their sophomore effort, Cataclysmic Insanity, a concept album about the destruction of Earth. Can the band pull off an ambitious story, and have the songs to back it up?
The Band
Dan Castro-Vocals, Rhythm/Lead Guitar
Vin Cin-Lead Guitar
Lewis Rosado-Bass, Backing Vocals
Dmitriy Shnaydman-Drums
The Track Listing
1. Flying Blind-5:14
2. So Far Away-4:49
3. Fear-4:53
4. Reflections Of The Past-7:35
5. Nightmares-4:08
6. A New Hope-5:29
7. Misguided Path-4:08
8. Eternity-4:32
9. Back In Time-7:31
10. Futile Attempt-5:54
The Review
New York/New Jersey metal band Castrofate is setting up to make a huge statement with their sophomore effort, Cataclysmic Insanity. A concept album about the destruction of the Earth and a group of survivors fighting to survive, the band is pulling out all the stops to make sure that they will be a force to be reckon with in the metal community. Led by lyricist/frontman/guitarist Dan Castro, Castrofate has crafted an album that is epic in nature, yet grounded enough to avoid sounding too bombastic, with a solid set of material to back the sci-fi story.
The story starts out with a bang, as the listener is immediately thrown head-first into the destruction of Earth with “Flying Blind.” The band’s sound can be described as 80’s heavy metal/thrash, without sounding retro or out-of-date. “So Far Away” slows down the pace a bit, but comes back with an Exodus-ish melody with a hint of groove to it. The lead section on this track is fantastic, as Castro and Vin Cin trade off solos before joining up for duel harmonies at the end.
The story takes its time to build, and while we don’t get a sense of how many survivors there are or even get any names, the anxiety, confusion, and crippling depression they feel over the loss of everything they knew is clearly expressed by Castro’s lyrics and his vocal delivery. In my mind, the album’s story is split into three parts: the destruction of Earth and the survivors’ reaction, the “new hope” that the survivors find out about, and the result of it.
“Reflections Of The Past” starts off with a calm acoustic intro before the whole band comes in, creating a mid-paced romper, complete with growling backing vocals by bassist Lewis Rosado. The song has a fantastic ending, with six solos that sonically go all over the place. My only complaint was the abrupt ending that ruined the flow of the song.
The hopeful-sounding “A New Hope” is a personal favorite of mine, with Castrofate employing a more upbeat sound to resonate with the lyrics. As the survivors find out that there might be a way to reverse the destruction of their home planet, the band follows suit with another mind-blowing solo section and tasteful fills from Shnaydman.
The band stumbles a bit with the bluesy metal track “Misguided Path,” which has no relation with the rest of the album and seems out of place. I felt the same way the first time I heard Megadeth covering The Sex Pistols's “Anarchy In The U.K” on 1988’s So Far, So Good, So What?. The instrumental “Eternity” is decent, but goes on for too long on the same melody (yes, I know what the song is called, but that doesn’t save it from being repetitive).
Castrofate makes up for a less than stellar middle section with a thrilling conclusion, lifted by the back-to-back epics “Back In Time” and “Futile Attempt.” The former has a Twilight Zone-like intro with some head-banging worthy riffage with a perfectly placed acoustic outro, which story-wise is the “calm before the storm.” The latter is a heavy closer, which mixes Metallica, Pantera, and a little Iron Maiden together, ending the story ambiguously, leaving the listener to wonder what may have happened to the last survivors of Earth.
For Cataclysmic Insanity, Castro enlisted the services of a talented lead guitar to play off of, so that the harmonies and solos are top-notch throughout the album. Unlike some thrash bands that have a similar structure throughout their songs, Castrofate switches it up song to song, with some songs having standard verse/chorus structure and others adding in solos at appropriate moments. It’s a refreshing change of pace, and helps to keep the album from getting stale.
Cataclysmic Insanity shows that Castrofate has potential to become major figures in the metal community. Most of the songs are pulse-pounding thrash monsters, with some epics thrown in there to show off the band’s progressive nature. While the band does hit a few missteps with “Misguided Path” and some production issues, the core sound is one that holds potential for the future. Castrofate has recently solidified their line-up, adding Dave Matasavich on lead guitar and Tom Bradley on the drums. In the liner notes in the booklet, frontman Dan Castro says that their next album is “gonna be ten times MORE insane.” Judging by the quality story, songwriting, and fantastic guitar work on Cataclysmic Insanity, Castro might be right.
The 411: Cataclysmic Insanity is a concept album that not only makes sense, and is easy to understand, but has the songs to back it up. The great thing is that the songs can be listen to individually without having to listen to the album front to back like other concept albums. While some songs don't fare as well as the rest, the product as a whole is good enough to be enjoyed by any metal head. If you are looking for a new band to get into, google Castrofate and check out their MySpace page. I would definitely watch out for this band in the future, as I see nothing but long-term success for them.
