Hailing from Chile this atmospheric black metal band is solely the brainchild of Sergio González Catalán assisted by Emidio Alexandre on drums for this excellent sophomore album that immerses you in a world of scintillating melodies, bleakness and a sense of haunting despair. The album cover also catches your eye as it isn’t your typical style for the genre but captures a feel of mysticism as the album kicks off with the epic ‘Living A Lie’. Immediately you are thrust and submerged into the Winds Of Tragedy ethos, the way the song spirals around its pivotal blackened fury with cool vocal dynamics, ranging from the caustic harshness to deep resonating growls fostering a theatrical aura. Every phase of the opener is given time to breathe, given time to ingrain in your head before the transition to the next, making for a fluid and extremely cohesive listen.
‘I Choose To Die’ follows the opener and despite being substantially shorter in duration is no less rammed with craft and ideas, the teeming melancholy unleashes a burst of blackened doom that is as horrifying as it is subtle, especially with the atmospheric feathering on the fringes. Equally the title track is superb, the blast beat speed is embedded softly into the mix as the guitar work unleashes an epic feel that is similar to acts such as Imperium Dekadenz. The fluidity of this album cannot be overstated, the smooth journey you experience as each track smothers is terrifically done as I really liked ‘No Reason To Go On’. With atmospherics abound the track has a morose intensity fabricated through the guitar work but also the emotive punishing vocals that thread through it that reminded me of Winterfylleth to a degree.
There are no weak tunes here, every single composition is stratospheric in its structuring and riffs, the blending of atmosphere with outright blackened ferocity is wonderfully executed as ‘Wake Me Up From This Act’ shows. The opening dense doom like riff surrenders to the blackened hook without resistance as the track seems to have strings embedded, whether purely keyboard or not, the results are excellent, adding considerable passion and emotive desolation. With some clichéd wind effects ‘Death Love’ is the penultimate tune, the acoustic guitar work paving the way for the black metal to smash in with unceremonious hostility, using a double kick influx to add weight the song is outstanding as the album concludes with ‘Remember We Died’.
The closer is equally magnificent and if one thing that sticks out from listening to this album, it is its consistency, every song is saturated with textures. With some doom like riffing again the song has a shadowy aura, relentlessly intense as it drops into an isolated guitar piece that has an abrasive corrosive style before returning to enraged blackness alongside the really monstrous vocals that are conjured up. The track is packed out with changes, the dynamics continually evolving right until the very last minute where the double bass crushes into the mix.
An outstanding second album from Winds Of Tragedy, one steeped in wrathful morosity and enveloping atmospherics.
(9.5/10 Martin Harris)
Leave a Reply