Katra - Out of the Ashes

In the “done-to-death” category is yet another Finnish female-fronted band attempting to cash in on Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica, Theater of Tragedy, you name the band it’s all been done to a disgustingly harassing degree. Occasionally, rarer and rarer, one of these bands pops up and manages to at least delight and engage despite the formulaic design. Katra falls lazily between engaging and rudimentary with Out of the Ashes.

Vocalist Katra Solopuro has a fine voice, albeit a bit too heavy on the accent for my taste. Far from Tarja in terms of power, she’s more in line with Liv Kristine of Leaves’ Eyes in delivery. Her style fits perfectly with this type of gothic-tinged metal of the symphonic persuasion, basic and none-too-resonating. Granted, in the vast milieu of pretenders and cash-grabbers now claiming themselves gothic metal, Katra seems a better value for your dollar, but there’s still nothing tremendously brilliant. “If There’s No Tomorrow” is a fun trek through power metal stagnancy and is probably my favorite track on the album. There are sincerely fluid moments on here, especially in the opening riff of the title track, but as heavy as it treads the moment is shattered by a clean, almost too-beautiful vocal and completely alters the mood for me. That takes little away from the good guitar work throughout, but sometimes a guitar that heavily deserves a strong vocal over it and Katra’s effort does no service to either her voice or the song. “Envy” is the obligatory ballad that is so syrupy and predictable that it’s hard to garner any emotional response to it, despite the band’s best efforts to the contrary. I’m afraid that the rest of the album fares little better, save for the occasional flurry of riffing that causes momentary excitement, only to eventually slip into the cracks somewhere between post-Fallen Evanescence and the currently watered-down Within Temptation. For background music Out of the Ashes serves a purpose, but beyond that there’s nothing I can honestly say you need to hear. Chances are you’ve heard it all before. 

The saddest thing with a band like Katra is that all of this music is so polluted and opaque that there is, quite literally, nowhere to go from here. Everything is pale imitation to the thousands of bands out there doing this very same style, some better, most pathetically mundane. The band has definite talent, but for the long term there simply is little here that can be called original or memorable. I cannot understand all of these obviously talented individuals wanting to jump into this greening pool of gothic rock bands to be counted among hundreds. The money may be in this mall-inspired goth metal, but that ship has sailed some eight years ago and it’s time for all of us to move on accordingly.

Release Date: October 26th, 2010
Label: Napalm Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Delirium
2.  One Wish Away
3.  If There's No Tomorrow
4.  Vendetta
5.  Out of the Ashes
6.  Envy
7.  Mirror
8.  Anthem
9.  The End of the Scene
10.  Hide and Seek

Total playing time:  44:29

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

February 2, 2011