Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 02:37 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Hellas
Label: Hells Headbangers
Year: 2021
Winter Eternal are a solo project originally from Athens, Greece in 2011 (their self-titled debut came two years later and followed by 2019’s entitled “Realm of the Bleeding Shadows”) and since 2018 relocated in Scotland. Soulreaper -real name Stelios Makris- (along with a session drummer and a guest appearance of Mathew Dakoutros on “Crown of Stars” playing violin and cello) that is the man behind this project plays old school melodic Black Metal.
The song’s structure combines the best elements of Norwegian black metal and its raw nature with 90’s Swedish melodic lead and solo guitars and Hellenic unorthodox black metal influences, mainly in the rough and thick bass and rhythm guitar lines. The atmosphere and the melodic parts dominate Winter Eternal’s third album’s sound. But mostly we are dealing with great songs that can stand individually, although a full album hearing of “Land Of Darkness” in its entirety works even better in terms of capturing the spirit of the album.
The lyrics deal with esoteric issues such as darkness, pain and sorrow, themes that modern man can find a piece of himself or a situation he was into in his personal life. Musically speaking fast blast beats, filthy, raw guitars, the rasping vocals, mid tempo passages, fast solos and a bunch of tremolo picking are all present, among the black metal screams and an essence of epic pagan aura, that all the above mixed are creating a magical frozen music landscape.
My personal favorites are “Crossing The Blackest Skies”, “Shaped by Grief”, “Crown Of Stars” and “Isolation”, while the cover on Gates of Ishtar’s “Dawn Of Flames” is quite interesting and absolutely suitable to Winter Eternal’s vision and sound. Fans of Dissection, Gates Of Ishtar, Vinterland and Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Varathron, Ulver, Windir or Satyricon will love it.
The album is already out since early June by Hells Headbangers.
