Catamenia is one of my favorite bands in the so-called melodic Black Metal scene and so I was quite curious about their sixth release Winternight Tragedies and what to except after I learned about their recent lineup changes. So the day had come for the angry wolf to show his teeth under the full moon in the winter landscape and enter my CD player...
The Finns have existed as a band for over a decade now and have released five full albums during this time, with their latest Chaosborn being their most known and best sold so far. They play fast, aggressive yet melodic Black Metal with harsh vocals that are difficult to understand even if they are in English or Finnish. In each release they have shown improvements and differences but the style remains the same and I can say that their songs are easily identified as Catamenia songs, which I think is rather important for a band.
Winternight Tragedies has been produced in the same studio as Chaosborn was and that is in favor of the band because of the perfect production they've managed to achieve once more. The lineup changes (the vocalist and the bassist player left due to distance issues) did not make Catamenia's new album sound much different than the previous one. This time the speed of the guitars in combination with the rapid drumming creates a more aggressive atmosphere but also melodic through the keyboard melodies in each song. There are quite solid and strong compositions, which have melodic guitars, up tempo passages and sometimes clean vocals or a choir (like in Verikansa which is in Finnish language and reminds me of Finntroll and Ensiferum). All the songs are definitely above average and one should listen to the album quite a few times in order to get into it. There is also a cover track, Fuel For Hatred (taken from Satyricon's epic Volcano album) which I find really great, fast, aggressive and frozen.
As a conclusion I would say that Winternight Tragedies is not an amazing album but it surely is enjoyable not only for the fans of the band and the melodic Black Metal listeners but also for those who are into melodic speed Metal in general...