Well there’s an Island Catalina located in Magallanes, Chile and perhaps this is the place that David Cofré the man behind this oddly named project is missing. I could be completely on the wrong track and it might well be the name of an ex-lover. Whatever the case he is expressing his grief here via the medium of DSBM and we are forewarned of a “flood of agony” and a “soundtrack to the long dark nights of your soul” in the vein of like-minded artists such as Unreqvited, Lifelover, Silencer et al. Starting out as New Hate, Chilean native David changed the name of the project and released 2 albums Catalina I and II with sequentially running numerical track titles. This new album also takes a similar approach of four lengthy tracks plus a couple of demo songs tagged onto the end.
Nothing happens apart from the sound of wind and the occasional drip for the first couple of minutes before the music finally starts. When it does we get melancholic jangly guitar riffs, plodding bass and a sudden burst into speed. The programmed drumming on the fast parts here is slapdash and slipshod and vocals guttural gurgles that are honestly best described as “ugly.” Things are also incredibly repetitive, part I for example running at a soul-crushing ¼ of an hour’s length. Acoustic diversions are fairly nice, you get that post black feel and the textures and melodies are certainly DSBM orientated. It’s all frustratingly over-indulgent though, talk about making us wallow in your despair. By part II the drumming rhythm unfortunately begins to grate, the indistinguishable vocal snarls are just one-dimensional and the repetitive guitar-melody over-extended. Despite liking the style of the music I am really struggling here. Even when you think the song has finished after a pause there’s another somewhat dreamier passage and it makes you wonder why this was not listed as a separate number? This isn’t the last time it happens on the album either.
Ambient seashore and strange sounds bring atmosphere to part III and are a diversion from the artist cranking up the machine again in a dreary, doomy fashion and finally clattering away once more. At times it really does sound like several songs are being fitted into one long running time and it isn’t gelling with me at all and the last section is so drawn out and repetitive you can’t help but wish he would finish the damn track already… As we jangle into the last part of the album (which again has 2 distinct parts to it) I have to admit being suitably depressed and suicidal and if that was the intention here David has certainly succeeded. As for the bonus demo tracks, at least they show some restraint, perhaps their less is more approach is the way to go. That drumming sound though, ugh.
The one thing I will agree about here is that the cover art by Louis Aston Knight is absolutely gorgeous. It’s just a shame that the music inside utterly defeated me.
(4/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply