Katra – Out of the Ashes (2010)

The lovely Katra is finally back with a 100% new release (the last album “Beast Within” was mostly songs from her debut album but translated from Finish to English). Katra is now also a full-fledged band not only a female solo artist with hired ‘monkeys’ to play the rest of the instruments like on her last album. With this ‘permanent’ band, Katra’s sound is more Metal and even more cohesive than before, making “Out of the Ashes” and excellent release that will surely be in our top 10 Symphonic/Gothic Metal albums of 2010.

Featuring ex-members of Nocturn, October Falls, and many other Finish bands, Katra’s new band is actually very proficient musically and greatly incorporates Metal elements with more straightforward Rock elements. This will surely make “Out of the Ashes” accessible to both Metal and non-Metal fans alike, since it’s smooth and flows very nicely, never being too aggressive or weak.

A few years have passed since Katra’s Eurovision days (and ‘scandal’) and now she is fully grown into a force to be reckoned with in the Gothic Metal genre. With a great voice (and looks), she is one of the most characteristic female Metal singers to come out from Finland in the last few years. With “Out of the Ashes”, Katra keeps in her usual singing style and adds a variety of vocal arrangements that make her voice sound amazing in songs like “One Wish Away” and “Out of the Ashes”, but never falling in the ‘over production’ department like other bands.

In terms of the music, we find a nice variety of textures and structures through this album. This makes “Out of the Ashes” a very nice and diverse release that will surely never bore you. Whether is powerful and catchy riffs (like on “If There is no Tomorrow”) or clean acoustic guitar sections (like on “The End of Sorrow”), the band does a great job in creating mesmerizing music that is greatly adorned with Katra’s vocals. For the fans of the traditional power ballad, “Envy” will surely fill your fix in this album, and will get high replay action.

In general, “Out of the Ashes” is a very well rounded up album that features a wide variety of tempos and styles within its 44 minutes of music. In the 10 tracks of this release we get great music and astounding vocals, what else can we ask from a Symphonic/Gothic Metal release these days. The band sounds very well integrated and it’s not afraid to be aggressive at points while maintaining the overall melodic aspect of the music. We greatly recommend this album for fans of Katra and Gothic Metal in general.  

Release: October 26th, 2010

Country: Finland