Winds Of Tragedy – Hating Life
Release Date: 17th February 2023
Label: Meuse Music Records / Tragedy Productions
Bandcamp
Genre: Atmospheric, Depressive Black Metal.
FFO: Nordicwinter, Ahnenkult, Algaion, Minenwerfer.
Review By: Mark Young
With having an album named Hating Life, you will expect it to be dark, bleak, and uncompromising in its delivery. It should absolutely batter you from the point of pressing play until it ends. In this respect, Winds of Tragedy have nailed their task with their second release, which confronts and flays open the quote that “time heals all wounds”. Impenetrable vocals that sound as so they are being spat with resentment and bile dominate, whilst light speed accompaniment continues to hammer home in each track. Fans of Black Metal will embrace this release to their (cold) hearts, as it is a monumental statement of pain. Everything can be heard, it’s tightly produced and there isn’t an ounce of fat anywhere on this record.
Living A Lie kicks the album off and sets a high watermark that the rest have to follow, and Winds Of Tragedy manage to maintain this standard from start to finish. No Reason to Go On bucks the full-on assault by starting with a mournful string arrangement, with support from guitars, drums which do not overpower this, and then it gives way to a full-on barrage which is a shame as the initial piece really sat together well, and I would have liked to have heard more of this. Wake Me Up From This Act is similar, with barely audible strings in the background until they are lost to allow the song to really fly. Again, everything fits, it’s not shoehorned in and feels very organic.
It ends with Remember We Died, which starts off slowly, drawing you in and then Bang! It takes off, and then it ends, and 35 minutes have literally sped past.
None of the tracks are short, each clocking in at 4 minutes plus, and they are chock-full of blast beats and trem picked guitars. Imagine that it starts fast and then goes faster without losing any clarity, which has been, for some bands, a historic criticism of their releases and black metal generally. These songs have been refined to within an inch of their life, and it is fitting that the production doesn’t lose that. It sounds fresh, heavy and it is fast. Love it.
1. Living a Lie
2. I Choose to Die
3. Hating Life
4. No Reason to Go On
5. Wake Me Up From This Act
6. Death Love
7. Remember We Died
(4 / 5)
