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A lot of people seem to really hate this album, even though it has just now been released. I was a big fan of Kataklysm's later period works like Serenity In Fire and Epic: The Poetry Of War, but I missed their last one. After the hate I have seen directed at this latest disc, their ninth, I had to check it out myself and see what the fuss was about.

This is a cool album, but it's a bit different from older Kataklysm stuff. The biggest departure is that the band seems to have largely ditched the 'hyperblast' approach. This is still Death Metal, and it is still technical and in places fast, but the nonstop whirlwind of blastbeats and hyperspeed is gone. Prevail is a slab of heavy, riffy Death Metal, but it's much more akin to something like Amon Amarth than their old style. I enjoy this album, and it has a lot of punch, but I can see that longtime fans would be disappointed that Kataklysm have become a much more generic kind of band. This is a pretty kickass album, but it can't touch albums like Sorcery or Serenity In Fire. If you come to this just expecting a solid Death Metal disc, then you will be happy; but if you hunger for the insane speed blasts of the old Kataklysm then you will most likely not be.