Kletus – To Distrust

Release date: 01-02-2023

Kletus. However similar the name might sound to Primus, they are nothing like it. I heard some similarities when hearing the first tones of their latest album, To Distrust. That went out the window quickly though. Kletus is extreme, brutal, loud, and structured chaos. Deathcore at its core, Kletus brings a shit-ton of noise to the stage. Let’s dive into this album and see what we like. 

To Distrust opens with the mellow tunes of The mirror veils its presence. It’s an electronic, weird intro, that indeed reminded me of Primus. It reveals nothing of what Kletus is about to bring. I do hope the band starts with this track when they are performing live too because the heavy growl and guitars that follow kick you right in the face. 

With the stage now set, it’s time for the first real track ‘For they do not know’. I have to say the lyrics really surprised me. With the level of brutality this band portrays, I wasn’t expecting a track from the viewpoint of Jesus Christ. Dylan’s vocals are a low growling layer that matches the heavy guitars perfectly. After a slow intro, the band jumps into high-energy moshpit craziness that will continue on the rest of the album as well. This track is a nice blend between heavy/low/slow and high-pitched/screaming almost thrashy parts. The drums and guitars are nicely synced and they amplify each other well. 

Onto Twentytwentytwo. Again the high-pitched, high-energy that we already encountered on the previous track. Almost bordering grindcore, again I’m surprised by the serious lyrics. Maybe that’s naive of me, but I never take grindcore too seriously. Kletus proves me wrong though. Talking about the meaning of life, mixing in some cult-references with ‘Do androids dream of electric sheep’. 

We skip over attract, because those movie references continue with Assimilate, which is about the movie The Thing. A sample from that movie is also heard in the interlude ‘Just Tissue’. Assimilate starts off slow again, with the low heavy growls Dylan is really good at. It doesn’t take long before we dive into the madness again. Now knowing what the lyrics are about I like this song even more. 

Fixation is maybe the heaviest song on this EP, and I like the guitar riffs on this track best. The middle part of the song almost feels like a black metal track with a dissonant, depressive feeling. It kinda matches the lyrics, talking about obsession. 

Final thoughts

Kletus makes sure the tracks never get boring. There are a few repeating riffs in each track, but different riffs succeed each other quickly. The use of movie samples adds to the weird eerie vibe the band tries to portray. It’s brutal as Deathcore should be but with an added layer of weirdness. Even though Deathcore isn’t really my thing, I enjoyed listening to these tracks. 

Where to find Kletus

You can find Kletus on Facebook or Bandcamp. Or you can check out their page in our database.