When I found myself in front of the debut album of Latvian Catalepsia, I immediately looked at the cover with suspicion, imagining that the remarkable female figure represented there corresponded to that of the vocalist of the band; due to a certain idiosyncrasy matured for a long time against the gothic bands with a girl at the voice, I was favorably impressed to discover that World Of Clichè is played instead by the excellent Erwin Franz, averting the umpteenth hour of music based on operatic warbles. I clarify immediately that my prejudice is not a prejudice but an evaluation due to purely personal taste: when it is appropriate and not sickening the female voice I appreciate it very much (unfortunately there are few realities like Draconian around), but a nice manly timbre maybe alternated with growl, in this style I prefer it by far. This promising band from Riga, founded about a decade ago by the vocalist and guitarist, now finally comes to the debut with an album of gothic doom performed with all the chrisms: an atmosphere more melancholic than dark and, above all, an excellent melodic taste, make World Of Clichè a really successful and rewarding album for fans of the genre. Without reinventing the wheel, Franz and associates give a series of effective songs, avoiding to lengthen the broth and going straight to the goal: in being an ideal summa of Draconian, Sentenced (or even more of the other creature of Laihiala, the Poisonblack of the beginning) and some other handful of bands gravitating in the northern European countries, there is sometimes some pleasant reference to the never enough praised Evereve of the Sedotschenko era. As I said, Franz is a really good singer, thanks to a deep but not forced timbre and a growl rather limited but surely effective; the rest of the band gets along just as well, with the exception of some perfectible guitar passages in some solo phases (especially in Take My Shame). Three beautiful songs (Nothing For No One, One Of Your Kind and the potential single Die While You Sleep), a driving instrumental (Thanathos) and two heartfelt songs in their mother tongue (Sārtā Rītausma and Par Vēlu) stand out in a tracklist devoid of weak points: Catalepsia will be derivative or otherwise unoriginal, but you can not deny that their task is carried out in an egregious manner, providing the listener, with this their first full length, the pleasant feeling of being in front of a work from modern sounds but from the great stylistic orthodoxy. Basically, here you can find only a very good gothic doom metal proposed at its best without stuffing it with improbable contaminations: for me this is not a little thing. 

2015 – Independent