Year: 2021
Total Time: 50:45
Label: Pride & Joy Music
SILENT WINTER, originating from Volos – Greece, is a band with a strange history behind it. Although it was founded in the distant 1995 and released two demos until 1997 (with very good reviews to follow), it suddenly went on ice for twenty-one whole years until 2018 and the EP “The War Is Here”. In fact, the band’s first full-length album “The Circles Of Hell” had to wait another year to be released in 2019. Fortunately, it took only two years to have the brand new full-length in our hands, with this year’s “Empire Of Sins”.
The musical direction here is that of European Power Metal, this beloved genre that refers directly to the golden age of HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY with the characteristic high vocals, a role to which Michalis Livas responds with great success. Tracks that are characterized by the speed on the guitars of Kyriakos Balanos and Vangelis Papadimitriou, while the drums of Giannis Antonopoulos, usually ultrasonic as well with doses of double-beats where needed, complement the already tried and successful recipe. Having maintained a relatively stable line-up with a unique change in the position of the bassist with the very good Vangelis Tsekouras taking the baton from George Loukakis, SILENT WINTER seem to be in great shape.
In their previous release, the band’s influences were more obvious. However, in this release, even if the genre remains the same, the chemistry of the band members and the personal element come to the surface loudly and clearly. The album is quite special, it bears its own stamp and it eventually stands out. There are of course the moments that refer to the German leaders of the genre, there are the passages where IRON MAIDEN make their presence felt as an influence of the band, but all this is passed through the filter of the creators of “Empire Of Sins”.
The Greek element and a more epic turn of SILENT WINTER become evident from the opening of the album and the very strong “Gates Of Fire” with King Leonidas and his Spartans. The two beautiful songs “Wings Of Destiny” and “Holy Land Of Fire And Ice”, along with the very good and loaded “Hunter’s Oath”, do not let the listener calm down at any point, while the classic Power ballad of the album “Where The River Flows” allows Liva to showcase the full range of his voice and the band to exhibit their virtues in this aspect as well. The album titled track is an epic, almost eight-minute song, while the album closes with a very beautiful cover of “Leave A Light On” by Belinda Carlisle.
“Empire Of Sins” is not just a worthy successor to “The Circles Of Hell”, nor is it just another good Power Metal record. It is the breakthrough step of SILENT WINTER. This is evidenced on the one hand by the contract offered to them by the German label Pride & Joy, and on the other hand most importantly by the personality that emerges, the unique identity that the band has acquired and shouts their name.
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Fanouris Exintavelonis
Related Link: SILENT WINTER – Bandcamp Page
