Tempest Reign launches their CD, "Catastrophic", with an aural effected two minutes of wind, chimes, and increasing tempo. Harmonics and guitar/sitar parts make way for chugging panning crunch chords until guitars and drums speed off into a tempo-setting frenzy. A scream welcomes the listener. "Life Goes On" begins 'look into the darkness, see what you may find, all that you remember, deep within your mind, searching for your savior. .' Vocalist, Joe DeLuca, has a compelling style that combines an almost sugar pop smoothness to his non-thrash verse performance, that moves from that innocent and youthful timbre to that of. .well. .satan. .or at least what the bedeviled one must sing like. We've never heard a vocalist able to capture both naivety and evil in one phrase and the result makes for compelling metal magic. The format of the band, however, gives thrash vocal responsibilities to both DeLuca and guitarist, Mogley. Track 3, "Flesh and Bone", gives a taste of both. The tune has a punk reminder of 'birth, school, work, death' feel to it's Flesh and Bone chorus - but the similarity ends there. Three minutes in, the double kick penetrates the record while guitar licks are perpetually repeated at electric-drill buckethead speeds - we're asked, 'what the fu*k are you made of'. The ambitious album spares no sound effect to set the stage, and track 4's harmonic-minor Scorps sounding "Revelations 9/11" begins with a twin-tower sound montage. This is the first penetrating musical creation we've heard that lyrically takes on the mind, motivation, and methods of terrorism - in particular Koran based ideology and the 'rivers of blood'. Disturbing and well done metal magic. Paul Lapinski does an incredible job of mixing and mastering the record, and the overall result is as interesting and inventive a metal album as we've heard. Tempest Reign is tight, topical, and communicates a sincerity with authority and intelligence.