Santa Cruz – Katharsis
Label: M-Theory
Release date: October 18th, 2019
Website: www.santacruzbandofficial.com
“Changing Of Seasons“, the rough and pretty modern-sounding opener clearly marks the path of the album, a path quite different from what die band has been doing on their previous records for the most part. Fans of recent H.E.A.T., ART NATION or REACH will be pleased, people digging classic melodic rock, which SANTA CRUZ played earlier on, too, on the other hand, should really take a careful spin before buying. The video for the positive sounding “Testify“ provides a perfect first impression – but be aware that this tune is one of the few that sound like what the band did in the past although the production might hint at the new direction w´they choose to take. Two examples for that are the keyboard-driven “Changing Seasons“ or the industrial-sounding (!) “Band Bang“ which are actually shockingly modern – given the band’s past. „Katharsis“ definitely seems to be a fresh start for the Finnish outfit around vocalist Archie Cruz who still delivers here. Let’s see where the road takes them. I personally prefer the older records to a large extinct, though…
5,5/10
Martin Stark
Tracklist:
- Changing Of Seasons
- Bang Bang
- Into The War
- I Want You To Mean It
- True Believer
- Tell Me Why
- Testify
- Smoke Signals
- It Was You
- Salvation
- Time After Time
