About a month ago I got an email from a band in Portugal, called Catacombe. Their new album was coming out on April 14, 2014, and they wanted me to have a listen, and possibly review it.

I put it on the back burner for a while. I was busy, I hadn’t reviewed any music for a little while, and this was the first time I had been directly solicited to review an album in ages.

I regret waiting to listen to Catacombe.

Their newest album, Quidam, is a solid post-hardcore, instrumental, effort.

Think of this album like Explosions In The Sky with less foreplay. That’s a good thing, because you won’t be waiting for a two minute snare roll to end on Quidam. That doesn’t mean that Catacombe doesn’t know how to handle a good build up.

The first track, “Zenith”, offers an almost song long build before taking you into the rest of the album. And it’s a GOOD build. The drums show up to the backyard party first, setting up close to you in the headphones. Little rolls and teases around the kit enthral you, and you hear the guitars start playing from a block away, slowly moving closer and closer, before finally unleashing all around you. It’s a great start.

The stand out track on the album is definitely “Shroud”, a rocker that drives almost all the way through, and feels like the soundtrack to an extended movie action sequence.

This band loves 6/8 time, and so do I. Everything feels a lot more epic in 6/8, and I think Catacombe knows this.

Guitars harmonies and melodies will paint a lot of great, wide-screen pictures for you in your mind, and I really enjoy how live the drums sound on this album. They don’t sound underwater, even when the guitars go swimming. They’re very grounded, and tight, right in front of your ears at all times.

If you like rocking, soaring, post-hardcore in the vein of early Caspian or Gifts From Enola, then this album, Quidam, will definitely satisfy you.

The album is available on Bandcamp.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the album! :)