The northern hyper blasters Kataklysm usually don't have a habit of disappointing, and they don't this time either. Musically the band appears to have slowed down a little compared to the predecessor Serenity in Fire. However, here are still lots of blastbeats and hyper drumming, but the slower and groovy things seem to have gotten a lot more room in the soundscape than before. A song like "Like Angels Weeping [The Dark]" is a good example of this.

It's clear that guitarist J.F. Dagenais has a good ear for writing songs that brilliantly combine heaviness and brutality with melody without compromising with one or the other. Vocalist Maurizio Iacono sounds as fired up as ever. His ability to combine high-pitched screams with deep guttural growls, like for instance in "Let Them Burn", just works flawlessly. The rejoined drummer Max Duhamel is clearly also at the top of his game with great variation and millimetre precise drumming. Hearing Stephane Barbe's naked bass lines in "To Reign Again" is just devastating. It's nice to hear that Kataklysm aren't afraid of evolving without compromising the very essence of their sound.

The production was handled by J.F. Dagenais and Tue Madsen mixed the effort. The result is a thick and powerful sound. Probably the best Kataklysm have had to date. There's not a single bad or boring track on In the Arms of Devastation. All are rich on qualities, but in particular "Like Angels Weeping [The Dark]", "Let Them Burn", "To Reign Again" and "The Road to Devastation" prove the most noticeable.

In the Arms of Devastation is without shred of doubt up to par with any of the Canadians' other material and perhaps even better. If you liked their previous albums, then you'll most likely love In the Arms of Devastation as it perfectly captures all the qualities of this band.