KATHAARSYS — Portrait of Wind and Sorrow (review)

KATHAARSYS — Portrait of Wind and Sorrow album cover Album · 2005 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Conor Fynes
'Portrait Of Wind And Sorrow' - Kathaarsys (7/10)

Although the word of the more recent day has been 'jazz' for Spanish black metal act Kathaarsys, this band originally had quite a different sound. In the same style of bands as Agalloch, Opeth or Drudkh, the early Kathaarsys played an epic and brooding sort of metal, with plenty of acoustics and dynamic change in the songwriting. Although it teeters a little much on the long side, this band's debut, 'Portrait Of Wind And Sorrow' is a very ambitious black metal album that should satisfy anyone who finds themselves attracted to nature-inspired progressive black metal.

Although being comprised of six tracks, each of the songs is over ten minutes long. Suffice to say, 'Portrait Of Wind And Sorrow' is a fairly long album, and most black metal albums would get boring long before a full 65 minutes was over. In the case of Kathaarsys however, they manage to keep their sound interesting more or less throughout. This is accomplished through the use of beautiful melodies, something that all too many of this brand of bands seems to forget. Aside from the soaring black metal melodies, there are also plenty of lighter moments with clean vocals, and although not the most technically accomplished of singers, JJ Montans holds a warm tone to his clean vocals that reminds me somewhat of Mikael Akerfeldt.

The Opeth comparisons don't end there. This reminds me much of that band's debut, 'Orchid'; each of these tracks is a mini-epic of sorts, but the album's greatest weakness is the fact that while each of them are very good, they all sound alike, and lack much individual identity as a result. A little too often in this album, I would get the feeling that I had already heard these ideas or progressions earlier in the album. There is little that is unexpected outside of the melodic death/black metal style that Kathaarsys plays here, but they do what they do very well. Overall, a great debut from this band, and I would readily recommend this to fans of any black metal with melodic, epic, or folkish leanings.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Oud Zeer Atmospheric Sludge Metal
ONTAARD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Oud Zeer Sludge Metal
THROWING BRICKS
Buy this album from MMA partners
War. Metal Related
WHORES.
Buy this album from MMA partners
The First Breath Is The Beginning Of Death Sludge Metal
IDIOT CHILD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Morbid Curiosities Sludge Metal
LUURCH
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 1 day ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 2 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 2 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed