Label: Frontiers Records
Review by Alysha Hayden
“Chaos Magic” is a solo project for Chilean born singer- songwriter, Caterina Nix. Caterina teamed up with guitarist, songwriter and producer Timo Tolkki to complete “Chaos Magic”. The album opens symphonically with “I’m Alive” when the heavy guitars join in it’s a similar sound to the likes of Evanescence, however Caterina and Timo keep to a more melodic lyric which gives the track a very upbeat nature. “One Drop of Blood” is another song that is heavier on the guitar but it came across a little poppish to me. “Seraphim” was exactly the track I expected to hear on this album, symphonic and grandiose with punching guitars. The slow methodical delivery of the lyrics seemed a little too safe to me: this would have been a great song to come up with a unique sound for “Chaos Magic”. “From the Stars” has a fantastic lead in, however this doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the track which was a little disappointing. I found every track on this album had fantastic intros. Instantly I’d be excited to listen on however when the vocals started the backing instruments would fall away and the entire structure of the song would change. I’m assuming this was a deliberate choice by the artist and perhaps to another listener it would have been received a little better. Caterina has a fabulous voice and this was a decent debut record. I certainly picked up her influences from Evanescence however I feel that she didn’t push herself creatively. I hope that for her follow up records she takes more risks and shows us more of who she is as an artist.
Review – 60/100
Tracklist
- I’m Alive
- Dangerous Game
- One Drop of Blood
- Seraphim
- From the Stars
- A Little Too Late
- Passionflow
- Dead Memories
- Please Don’t Tell Me
- Right Now
- The Point of No Return
Line Up
- Caterina Nix – Lead Vocals
- Timo Tolkki – Guitars, bass and keyboards
- Jami Huovinen – Drums