| CD REVIEW Catamenia |
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Band: Catamenia One of my favourite bands from the melodic (Black) Metal scene from Finland has always been Catamenia. While colleagues injected their music with pseudo-emotional, catchy and, in a way, predictable elements, Catamenia succeeded to inject an extra dimension in the music. During their existence (in fact, the band was formed in 1995), the members did record and release seven full length studio albums before. That also explains the first part of the new album’s title, ‘VIII’, of course. VIII - The Time Unchained was recorded again with producer (SoundMix Studio) / mixer (Mastervox Studio) / master (Mastervox) Kari Vähäkuopus, who did also join the band as a permanent member, being Catamenia’s clean vocalist. The album goes on in the vein of the former releases, especially the latest one (Location: COLD, 2006), but the progression the band underwent is huge. I’m a little confused, because this album might be the most catchy and accessible one up till now. Of course, Catamenia still play dark and Nordic-oriented blackish Metal, yet this time it isn’t just ‘Black Metal’ anymore. Oke, songs as opener Dominion are fast, aggressive and battering, and those tracks, or parts of a track, are as strong, powerful and convincing as comparable works from the past. And I have to admit that the quality of these Black-hymns still is very high. On the other hand, however, Catamenia seems to introduce ‘modern’ elements from other Metal genres: Emo, Nu, Prog, Metalcore??? Since Kari joined as permanent member, taking care of the clean vocals, it might be evident that his role as musician within the band needed to increase, and this evolution might scar(e) some. A pity, I think. The album sounds more emotional than before, but the approach is much more ‘big-audience’-oriented too this time. Like many other Finnish bands within this scene, a certain ‘commercial’ approach will draw attention of many new fans, but I guess a few fans from ‘the old school’ will be disappointed. The album does also contain a few covers: From Out Of Nowhere (Faith No More), Viivakoodit (Apulanta) and Synti Voittaa (Shitter Limited). 70/100 Ivan Tibos. |