Catamenia

Catamenia是芬兰近年涌现出的一只青年黑暗金属团，风格以北方黑金为主，以旋律见长，还涉足了哥特、氛围的领域。1995年在芬兰由乐手Riku Hopeakoski和Mika Tönning组建而成。他们在同年推出了他们的第一张Demo。第二张Demo《Winds》给他们带来的是和“大屠杀”唱片公司的一纸合约。乐队98年的首张专辑就试图个性化区别于本地区多数极北类的金属乐队，在听者和杂志中都获得了好口碑。接下来99年的《Morning Crimson》和2000年的《Eternal Winter's Prophecy》及《Eskhata》更是进一步确立了Catamenia在芬兰金属圈的地位。
Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Amorphis, Impaled Nazarene, and Sentenced, to name but a few, Finland became a surprising hotbed of heavy metal talent during the late '90s, and symphonic black metal act Catamenia certainly ranks among the most consistent -- if not commercially successful -- of these. Formed in 1995 by vocalist Mika Tönning, guitarists Riku Hopeakoski and Sampo Ukkola, bassist Timo Lehtinen, keyboardist Heidi Riihinen, and drummer Toni Tervoand, and hailing from Sentenced's hometown of Oulu, Catamenia needed only a few well-recorded demos to score a deal with Massacre Records, for which they delivered 1998's Halls of Frozen North and 1999's Morning Crimson in quick succession.
Although both of these albums displayed a large inspirational debt to Norwegians Emperor, they were also creative and inspired enough in their own right, and despite recurring obsessions with frigid album titles and blue cover artwork, Catamenia's sound would grow ever more varied and distinctive with each ensuing release. These included 2000's excellent Eternal Winter's Prophecy (which saw Ukkola replaced by new rhythm guitarist Ari Nissilä and the Black League's Sir Luttinen helping out behind the drum kit) and 2001's epic masterpiece Eskhata (which borrowed Kalmah drummer Janne Kusmin, and did without departed keyboardist Riihinen). The behind-the-scenes shuffling would continue with the arrival of keyboardist Tero Nevala and drummer Viekko Jumisko prior to the band's fifth album, 2003's acclaimed Chaos Born.