Year: 2021
Total Time: 39:42
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Many are acknowledging a connection between the Greek black metal scene and the Swedes. Bands like Dissection, Vinterland, Gates of Ishtar etc appear in many reviews as the fountain of inspiration for Greek bands that base their extreme metal on melodic riffing, harmonized melodies, groovy drums and catchy repetitive themes. But we Greeks know that the root of our extreme metal scene lies mostly on the foundations that the classic metal bands of the 80’s laid for everyone and the extreme spark of the 90’s that came from the northern Europe to light a fire that was already well prepared.
WINTER INTERNAL is one of those bands (or one-man project if you prefer) that in my ears base their sound on the classic aesthetics of the 1980’s and the 90’s. It’s true that their first full length, “Winter Eternal” that came out in 2019 was leaning more towards the melo-black subgenre and its musical stereotypes, but the 2021 “Land of Darkness” connects heavily with the early 90s Swedish melo-death and the classic heavy metal guitar work. But let’s dive a little bit more into the specifics.
First of all, is “Land of Darkness” a step forward from “Winter Eternal” album? I’d say it’s a step towards a clearer intention and musical vision. Even though “Winter Eternal” was a very strong melo-black release, as I said earlier the stereotypes were almost too present. In “Land of Darkness” the production is clearer and compared to the “Realm…” the chaotic black metal atmosphere is sacrificed in favor of the clarity and the precision that was necessary to highlight the elaborate melodic aspects of the album.
Aesthetically I believe that with “Land of Darkness” the listener witnesses some kind of a work in progress or maybe a “passage”. I mean, there are songs such as “Crown of Stars” where the melo-death influence is much more prominent and others such as “Faded to Silence” where we’re clearly into a black metal universe. Soulreaper delivers his vocals differently, sometimes shrieking and howling in the black metal tradition, sometimes screaming and shouting leaning towards death metal.
During its almost 40 minutes the album presents a discrete diversity, with clean electric guitars, acoustic guitar (nylon and steel strig) and a string quartet, all these creating a wide dynamic range and beautiful mellow passages. There are some clichés in the use of the aforementioned elements though. The orchestration betrays the artistic intention as there is a very obvious almost quoted relation with the early Swedish scene.
The album closes with a cover. It’s “Dawn of Flames” by Gates of Ishtar and again the interpretation and the sound bring forward a more classic approach, which I totally enjoy. I wrote earlier that it sounds to me like “Land of Darkness” is a passage to something, though what this something might be I do not know. Will it be a “Reinkaos”- like stripped down to the basics approach, will it be an experimental mixture of elements à la IMHA TARIKAT, will it be a reincarnation of the early Gothenburg style?
WINTER ETERNAL until now have given us two honest and high-quality full lengths. But I have the impression that there is lots of repressed originality that has to be released for us to witness the full potential of the band.
Rating: 7,5/10
Editor: Yiannis Tziallas
Related Link: WINTER ETERNAL – Bandcamp Page
