Winterus

In Carbon Mysticism

Written by: EW on 19/04/2011 11:24:52

This is the debut release from American black metallers Winterus, 34 minutes of at times delicately arranged black metal of the post/pagany feel I personally love, but also a record that has fallen into many of the traps commonly associated with bands still finding their feet in the world. To start off with the good points, the Michigan band can write a strong, powerful riff when they want to ("No Rest", "Through The Mist") and meld this into a deep void of an atmosphere that recalls anything in my mind from Nachtmystium through to a Blut Aus Nord and their performance is very reasonable with some accomplished moments on display through all 9 tracks of average length duration. Were some of the better riffs from across the release combined into more cohesive wholes, of which there is still plenty of time one assumes for Winterus, then we could be onto something rather good here…

The negatives though currently hold "In Carbon Mysticism" back from that level. The worst culprit is the track changes from 1-2, 3-4 and 6-7, each of which seem to herald the beginnings of a new release such is the difference is tone of guitars and drums. This when combined with a couple of oddly constructed instrumentals give a half-finished feel, where the band's eagerness to get past 30 minutes of music has seen them release unfinished songs and bodge together tracks from entirely different recording sections. Mention must also go to the variety of feels on show - opener "Lone Wolves" sounds like a old Katatonia track, "Moonlust" could be a Dissection cover, "No Rest" taking some queues from the brutality of Marduk and "Christ Reign" Amon Amarth-ian in it's epic riffing. Consistency in persona this is not. So, some work still to be done for Winterus but if some of the riffs on offer say anything, it is that Winterus could be on to something, some day…

4

Download: No Rest
For The Fans Of: Nachtmystium, Dissection
Listen: Myspace

Release date: 26.04.2011
Lifeforce Records

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