First point to make is that this is by pure coincidence the second CD I have reviewed in 2 days with a severe ‘winter’ bent on it. Everything about this screams the words ‘cold’ and ‘icy’ just like Istapp did. Whereas I called that particular band a bit on the jolly side there is nothing light-hearted about Wintersoul at all, this is on the whole incredibly brutal and windswept stuff and it really does chill right through to the bones.
I am glad that we pride ourselves on doing a fair bit of research on each and every band we review as otherwise certain things about this lot may not have come to light. Firstly the album was sent from the label based in Wisconsin and on playing I thought it was USBM although it sounded quite at odds and at times even more British, indeed that is where the band do actually hail from. Speaking of hailing, one entity they are not doing that particular tribute to is Satan. The label focuses on extreme Christian metal and they certainly have hit the extreme nail firmly on the head with this lot. I hasten to add there is nothing about this that pertain it towards Christianity on the bands web page. There is nothing preachy about the lyrics here either but then I guess damnation and eternal suffering are subjects that are close to both sides of the coin as it were.
As ‘Dawn Of Ice Hearts’ batters in one thing that is evident is the force behind this, the drumming is full on as are the feral vocal rasps. I would class this as blackened death or perhaps unblackened life might be a better moniker. It borders on the precipice of the two sub genres being as much in the style of Behemoth as anything else. The female vocal parts of Melanie Sarah really makes this stand out, and she used to be in Ashen Mortality another band who I am sure I vaguely remember crossing my radar in the past. ‘Thorns Of Winter’ has drumming patterns and guitar strumming behind it not a million miles from Nile; it’s obvious this lot can play. Your head may well fall off if you try to keep up and bang along to it. It looks like this lot are fully into wearing corpse paint as well and although musically this is proficient and everything there are still many who are likely to reject it saying that the whole ideology of this sort of music is geared towards hate, negativity and everything that Christianity stands against. This is a viewpoint I can only side upon and for that reason find this akin to listening to a sheep in wolves clothing.
I certainly do not like the female vocals when they take over on ‘Dark Winter Skies’ as they sound terribly off key. That is the exception to the rule though as on the spoken word parts of the album they are spot on. Luckily the slower approach of that particular song is swept aside as the album lays back into cataclysmic devastation mode. This is a pretty short album coming in at the 33 minute mark and in the time it certainly lays out a righteous storm of barbarity, so if you are into really heavy music and do not like it to be unholy and blasphemous this is good, if not false, black metal.
http://www.myspace.com/wintersoulhorde
http://www.myspace.com/officialnhmetal
