Band:
Riku Hopeakoski – lead guitars
Ari Nissilä – vocals & rhythm guitars
Toni Kansanoja – bass & low grunts
Kari Vähäkuopus – clean vocals & guitars
Mikko Nevanlahti – drums
Discography:
Halls of Frozen North (1998)
Morning Crimson (1999)
Eternal Winter's Prophecy (2000)
Eskhata (2002)
Chaos Born (2003)
Winternight Tragedies (2005)
Location:COLD (2006)
VIII - The Time Unchained (2008)
Guests:
Ville Laihiala - guest vocals
Info
Recorded December 2009 at the Masterworks Studio in Oulu
Catamenia (producer)
Released 26/2-2010
Reviewed 23/2-2010
Links:
catamenia.net
myspace
massacre
Usually I tend to try and identify the bands I listen to geographically and this was no exception. Usually I also have no trouble with this but Catamenia gave me some trouble with this. I am not really sure I thought about Finland but when I do think about it, there actually are many things that sounds quite Finnish in the music of Catamenia. I can’t really figure out why I didn’t think of Finland.
Musically it is as I said on the extreme side of thigs, some maybe would call it death or black metal, some might call it thrash, I can’t clearly define where in the extreme metal tree this band take place. The melodies actually do play a large part in this music and Catamenia also mix clean vocals and growls. They have a modern and clean production which seem to focus on the melodies making the music not so extreme. Maybe some of the super extremes would call it weak or sell out or whatever but that does not really matter as their opinion does not really carry any importance anyway, at least not to us who like more music than dark stupid screaming songs.
I think Catamenia has succeeded rather well with this record, the songs are good all the way through the album. I liked the vocals of this record quite a bit, the vocals lift the strength of this album which is a good thing and quite different from this genre in general.
The record starts with a song called Blood Trails which is a decent starting track but nothing more than that really, just a song to open up the track you could say. The next track is the very great title track which is one of two tracks that really stand out on this album. The other track that does stand out is the one before the last track called Reincarnation which brings out a good track. The other tracks on the album are all good tracks but they don’t really stand out that much only the two I mentioned do that.
In the end however, this is a very good record with good and powerful songs, with very good vocals and melodies and a good focal point in the music. The finns have succeeded well in making this album, at least in the eyes of this reviewer.
I can recommend this record for all you readers. It is a record with a great feel and a cavalcade of very good tracks.
HHHHHHH
