After their self-titled debut album in the spring of 2007 and a radio hit in their homeland with their single ‘Sahara’, Finnish Katra was offered a worldwide recording contract by Napalm Records. Beast Within is the label debut of this band formed around singer Katra Solopuro and when we have to believe their bio we’re discussing the next big thing in the gothic metal scene at the moment.

“Finland is still the cradle of some of the most unique and extraordinary bands in the music scene.” It’s a mystery why this is the first sentence of the promo-sheet that accompanied the album, ‘cause after listening to Beast Within we can conclude that we’re dealing here with just another gothic metal band. Just as with almost all bands in this scene the vocalist has a beautiful classical trained voice, but the drums are very standard, the riffs are predictable and the synthesizer is a bit too much at some points.

Beast Within is all in all just another gothic metal record and it will probably please the die-hard gothic metal fans, but don’t expect any originality here. I can’t understand why record labels still feel the urge to push so many mediocre bands in the spotlights as if they’ve just released the album of the year. Just face it, this gothic metal hype is over…