CATHARSIS

CATHARSIS is one of the leading power metal bands from the vast expanses of russia. With the release of their previous album "Wings," they seem to have definitively carved out their niche — pompous, symphonic-tinged power metal with uneven but generally quite decent lyrics. Before the next album, the guys decided to treat their fans to a single, which essentially consists of three new songs. The first, "Take Me to the Gates of Babylon," is quite unusual, and I'd even say unjustifiably arrhythmic in structure — it's hard to digest, yet a certain charm is present. The second is the title track itself, which, as one might easily guess, is a ballad. The ballad is decent, but... To be honest, I didn't like how the vocalist (Oleg Zhilyakov) performed on it. I'll refrain from specific complaints, merely noting an unnaturalness in certain places that seriously damaged the song's atmosphere. And the third track, "We Will Win!" left the impression of a thoroughly formulaic patriotic anthem. A very bland anthem at that. The bonuses included on the single — a piano version of "Ballad of the Earth" and a cover version of "Wings" by Amatory — are nothing to write home about either, the latter primarily due to utterly unintelligible growling. They could have done better — especially since the instrumental side is played superbly, tight and moderately aggressive. To sum up — a rather mediocre single with unclear prospects for the upcoming album.

P.S. Yes, one of the instrumental passages in "Take Me to the Gates of Babylon" immediately reminded me of GAMMA RAY's "Dethrone Tyranny"...