WINDS OF TRAGEDY is a melodic black/doom band from Santiago, Chile. It is a solo project formed by Sergio González Catalán, also of the melodic death/doom project RISE TO THE SKY. "Hating Life," is the band's second full length album; an EP was also released in 2022. I enjoyed the debut "As Life Drifts Away," quite a bit but I also felt it didn't differentiate enough from his work with RISE TO THE SKY. As they are both quite melodic and laced with tragic beauty, I imagine it is hard to do. However, Sergio has pulled it off because "Hating Life," is a step above the debut and it does sound more like its own entity now.

It doesn't sound different in a more experimental way but instead he has found a better balance between black and doom metal. The blackened parts are straight up vicious—-fast, furious and with a venom that would make even the most primitive black metal fan take a step back. However, those doomier moments where he injects his own special brand of melancholic sorrow are better integrated into the overall sound. This album lives in both worlds but somehow manages to sound distinct on its own. As with any of Sergio's music, the production is on point, as well as the mix. Modern yet not clean, the music is run through the grinder to sound approachable from an audible standpoint yet not so refined that the evil and sadness loses its emotional bite.

The first song out of the gate is "Living A Lie," and it is blistering! When it can't possibly get faster or heavier, it does anyway. The anger, the frustration...it all just boils and builds up to the mid section where a new level of hammer smashed faced density is thrown at the eardrums. The melody is here but it is subtle....stalking, awaiting in the shadows. About seventy five percent through the song, it fades out to a gorgeous clean section before heading back into black metal chaos. Such a beautiful song. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, you better find it because the album only gets better from here and it isn't something you want to miss out on.

The title track is maleficent in its approach—by the time the first minute passes, exhaustion from being scared shitless has already set in. The drums, bass, and riffs work as one huge wall of sound here, backing up the vomiting blackened screams/growls. It sounds disgusting and it is exactly the direction the project needed. But the cold melodies and deeper riffs of the mid section add in that much needed shade of doom. A truly epic song that batters and hammers.

The grinding riffs of "Wake Me Up From This Act," will turn you into dust. If it doesn't, the rapid fire melodies will punch holes in you. This particular song stands out to me because it finds balance between riffs and melody yet each one is just as important as the other. At the three minute mark, it strips away to just drums before raging back meaner than ever. Vicious. Just vicious. The last track, "Remember We Died," is about as happy as the title would suggest. Sergio's vocals here are deep death growls with a blackened edge to them—absolutely stupendous vocal performance on this song. This might be my favorite song on the album...it is  slow and a dirge of death in the beginning. It speeds up later and gains traction as it melds into a black metal song that is focused on nothing but remembering pain, pain, and more pain.

RISE TO THE SKY keeps getting better and looks like WINDS OF TRAGEDY are following suit. I'm confident that Sergio has a firmer grasp on his vision of this band and the next album will put the project on yet another level.