Review by Krys on March 15, 2001.

Some people just can’t live without making music… and that’s great. One of them is Trevor Peres, member of no longer existent death metal gods Obituary. Because of his burning passion to create extreme sounds, with help of Keith DeVito, Chris Basile, Brian Hobbie and Rob Maresca, all members of the New York based metal powerhouse Pyrexia, he has developed a new band called Catastrophic.

By saying all that about the history of this band, it shouldn’t come to your surprise that "The Cleansing", their debut CD, will remind you of the great Obituary days. Big time! A few notes from the first track, "Hate Trade", will unmistakably bring you all those memories. The characteristic tone and riffs of Peres’ guitar dominate this whole album. Tracks like "Messiah Pacified", "The Veil" or "Jesters of the Millennium" could easily end up on a Obituary’s "Cause OF Death" or "The End Complete" disc.

But don’t make any assumptions yet! Catastrophic is NOT a carbon copy of Obituary. Although the guitar work is clearly modeled after the Obituary sound, very often those guys really like to crank up the tempo on their compositions. Other than the aggressive drum-molesting section, the vocals of Keith DeVito are also quite different from John Tardy’s lines. Overall, the "The Cleansing" is just a delicious piece of rotten death metal meat which I’ll recommend to any hungry metal fan.

Bottom Line: Make some free space on your shelf, you need this CD.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Alex on June 18, 2019.

Yet another band offers their work to the growing modern traditional metal genre that's become a trend by now which sees Canada dominate and hold the torch with arguably the best within this new uprising. Hence, hearing Temptress are from a land notorious for doom metal was enough to draw me in. From the inception of the first song, “The Orb” you can hear Temptress’ doom metal allure. With the vocals possessing that Italian accent and more-so flaunting mildly Gothic ominous style, Temptress has created a distinguishable identity for themselves early on in their journey. Even the instrumental approach echoes a foreboding sound that reinstating the band’s charm. Temptress does an awesome job with The Orb EP, dispelling 2 songs of mid 80s traditional heavy metal that would be great to hear more of, if followed by output within the same vein.

"Woman" is as gratifying as the opening track “The Orb”; in a sense the song executes a deep melodic flow, especially in the break towards the chorus. And though the self-titled opener has speed metal sort of riffing, there still exists a lasting melodic assertion.

The vocalist has a raw but relaxed voice supplementing the instrumentation, whether it be the lenitive guitars or just the tranquil melody heard throughout The Orb, his vocals are ideal for these mid-tempo melodic tunes, something I hope does not change for future releases. I also suggest they keep and improve the clement but audible influences of gothic/doom metal thus building their identity to avoid lethargy.  

It will be interesting to hear how the band handles new material in time, given the performance on the short yet propitious EP, The Orb. Much is still left to be seen from Temptress and I think they will answer with exemplary results. As for now, The Orb is an ear-catching and satisfying debut that offers a taste of what's to come from this Italian traditional metal outfit, Temptress.

Rating: 8 out of 10