Winds of Tragedy – Death Wash Over Me

Band: Winds of Tragedy
Title: Death Wash Over Me
Label: Tragedy Productions
Release date: December 13th, 2024
Country: Chile
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording

First time I listened to this album, I felt already devastated. Broken. Consumed by the most ultimate anguish that a soul can feel. This music is pure agony, despair, grief… With this album I feel emotions that are usually hidden, because they are unbearable. When I decided to write about it, I opened the door…

… And devastation rolled over me. “Death Wash Over Me” delves in the darkest realms of the human soul, with lyrics about death, depression, suicide, you can have an idea just by reading the titles. But yeah, the lyrics are so explicit and go along perfectly with the music, built with very strong and emotional passages. There are plenty of tremolo riffs where guitars and bass are in total depressive harmony, so to say. Accompanied with a great repertoire of blast beats and explosive drumming, and the bass pedal that’s usually on fire. There’s also room for some ambient passages with mournful cries, like at the beginning of “My Feet Don’t Touch The Floor”, and this song turns out to be pure angst with all those shrieks… Or the acoustic guitar in “I’m Fine But Not Really”, the tone is extremely sad.

Vocals are one of the most remarkable aspects in this album, the agonic shrieks bring an unbearable amount of grief to the table, damn this is one of the most extreme voices of this kind I’ve ever listened to! “I Built My House To Suffer” is utterly devastating. I can feel the blood freezing in my veins all through this song. And the raspy vocals are perfect, harsh, very intense, hitting your ears mercilessly.

Sergio Catalán put out a masterpiece here, he does the vocals, guitars, bass and keyboards, but he also counts on some guest musicians:

-Void : shrieks in “My Feet Don’t Touch the Floor” and “I Built My House to Suffer”.
-Kenna Warne : Vocals and lyrics in “My Feet Don’t Touch the Floor”.
-Krzysztof Klingbein: drums.

I feel particularly blown away by the way the tempos change in the songs. “I Am No One” for example starts with a very gloomy ambient synth intro and then the drums and a sick tremolo riff make their apparition, leading the listener to a state of alert; blast beats and anguish vocals make the rest, along with the devastating lyrics, and the song make the way to your brain infesting it with an unbearable despair and a total depressive feeling. Or, in “My Feet Don’t Touch the Floor”, an utterly overwhelming song (mostly because of the insane shrieks), starting as a depressive post-black metal track and then bursting into Black Metal fields. The depressing lyrics roll over me, “We’re dead yet still alive” is still resonating in my head because I feel its inherent truth… Tremolo riffs are massive and they destroy my sanity, and the bass lines are outstanding, carrying the weight of the guitar riffs and harmonies.

I’m Fine But Not Really” is a song that starts with some hope in its dark acoustic guitar tunes, along with the freezing wind; but only two smashed cymbals are enough to turn it into a cathartic madness. It’s like all the extremely painful thoughts now find a way to be washed, released from our suffering soul. And the gun shot… Well it kills all spark of hope. The last two minutes are frantic, convulsed, agonic, burying the listener in a frozen tomb.

The brutal artwork in the cover was done by Natalia Drepina, and this image is really impactful. It says it all… Couldn’t be more explicit, in my opinion.

I really love this album and maybe Depressive Black Metal is not for everyone and I can understand it, because it’s the most touching genre and it has the power to awaken the darker emotions in one’s soul. And this is exactly why I love it: this music puts the perfect soundtrack to deep anguish and pulls me down, dragging me to the bottom. Without hesitation, 10/10 by Sílvia

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10/10 Immortal Classic
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