| Catamenia-Cavalcade Review |
| Sunday, 07 March 2010 08:40 |
Catamenia-Cavalcade (2010) 1. Blood Trails (feat. Ville Laihiala) 2. Cavalcade 3. The Path That Lies Behind Me 4. Silence 5. Quantity Of Sadness 6. Post Mortem 7. The Vulture's Feast 8. A Callous Mind 9. Reincarnation 10. Angry Again (Megadeth cover) When I first heard Catamenia, it was the Eternal Winter's Prophecy album that got me into them. I was really impressed by the atmosphere and musicianship. Later on, I listened to Chaosborn and was even more impressed and it continued with Winternight Tragedies. Catamenia was such an underrated band these days. They played atmospheric raging melodic black with catchy melodies and melancholic elements. Location Cold saw a little fade from all that but was still really good and had its flawless moments. It was until The Time Unchained when Catamenia just decided to change their style a little. They relied more on softer, catchier songs and utilized more clean vocals with little blackened touch. After The Time Unchained was unleashed, we the fans hope that the next album would surpass this new phase. Unfortunately, Cavalcade follows in its foot steps, though being a little more memorable than the last in my opinion. It seems like they have lost most of their blackened sound and speed all together. Cavalcade seems more dark/mellow rock than the melodic black metal band we use to know. Side note, no wolf on the cover? Change? Still, this album is full of catchy and humming melodic songs to get stuck in your head. Like its predecessor, Catamenia continues in that tradition. The lack of blackened atmosphere and elements are very distant and rely more on mellow songs with melodic clean vocals. Some people will say that this sounds more of a spirit of bands like Sentenced, Poisonblack, and given Ville Laihiala does feature his vocals on the track Blood Trails. The clean melodic vocals on this album are over utilized too much. I don't mind bands using clean vocals every now and then to add touch but the vocals of Kari are not the ones to be using as a focal point. I mean he is good but his vocals here at times can become very dull. I could take most of the clean vocals out of the song and it would be an excellent melodic song. There are some songs such as Blood Trails, The Vulture's Feast, Reincarnation, and others where the vocals actually go good with the songs mood. Almost all songs have very little blackened vocals. Death grunts seem more prominent. Another change, there are no songs in their native tongue. I adore bands who sing some songs in their native tongue because it sounds so beautiful. Some of Catamenia's best songs were sung in their native tongue. None here though. The musicianship overall isn't too bad. Catamenia still are pretty good at creating songs with melancholic guitar melodies and catchy choruses, only this time a bit more mellower than usual. They are some speedy moments but they don't last long and go into a slower tempo. Yes I know speed isn't everything but it was one of the few things I enjoyed about Catamenia. They could have a fast melodic black metal track and hold you in its entirety until the end. I also noticed they are no keyboards on this album. One factor that played well with Catamenia was the beautiful/somber atmosphere that was given by the keys. The atmosphere played a major role in Catamenia's music and that what probably saved Location Cold from being dull in my opinion. The Time Unchained also lacked keys and atmosphere. It could of have probably been saved too! So what is going on with the sound of Catamenia? I don't know. It seems like they are in this experimental phase of slower melodic rock. What's next? female vocals? Sad to say I am a bit a disappointed as well as others with this new sound. Not that it's a bad thing or anything but Catamenia was also one of those few bands that I have really enjoyed with every release until the latest The Times Unchained and now Cavalcade. Cavalcade really isn't so bad. I give them some credit. It has its good moments and glory but sad to hear the old Catamenia sound is gone for the moment. Who knows? Perhaps this is a good move for them to get more attention from new publicity and such. They were so underrated when making good music so perhaps this change will help them create a name for themselves. The sounds of Cavalcade should surely open doors to new fans, whether a fan of extreme metal or not. I really do hope that this is just an experimental phase for them to get known and then surprise us back with the old sound in the future. Rating:  Myspace:Catamenia Review by Vyldr |
