In the middle of the winter finnish band Catamenia release their debut CD “Halls of frozen North”. Their previous demo “Winds” led them to sign with Massacre Records, label that provided a well-known producer, Gerhard magin (Crematory, Theatre of Tragedy…) for the suomen. But in no way they play doom (as you may have guessed by the producer’s background); they play a fast and agile Black Metal, cold at the sound but warm at the melodies, that is like Cradle of Filth-meets-Immortal. Singer Mika Tönning’s vocals are mostly blacky but in ome places growls (helped by technology, I dare to guess) while the guitar riffing and Heidi’s keyboards bring the melodyc lines backwards. Lyrics are extremely original for a nordic Black Metal band as titles show: “Dreams of Winterland”, “Freezing Winds of North”, “Enchanting Woods”, “Halls of frozen North”, “Forest enthroned” and so on. I have nothing against the musician’s freedom at choosing the inspiration, but I still cannot understand how such (so much) limited topics can mean such an important source of inspiration for so many bands. Taliking about Northern weather, the darkness and the forests is ok, but… …do we really need 1438 bands to talk about that? Come on guys, there are thousands of things which are also worth in life talking about and yet unexplored!
