After five months in Brazil it seemed appropriate that my return to the UK would best be accompanied with some music filthy and dirgy enough to suit the current bout of weather affecting the country. Not to mention the fact that the temperature is 30 degrees colder here than the midsummer in Rio - how are you supposed to fully appreciate dark grim music whilst basking on a beach beneath a cloudless sky? So I ordered a copy of New York doomsters Winter's first and only full length, "Into Darkness", now in it's 20th year of existence. Despite a short career, the band left their mark on extreme metal, and this has finally been recognised with the reuniting of the band for Roadburn 2011.
The album, along with Autopsy's classic "Mental Funeral", released a year after, is considered a pioneer of the death/doom genre. Whereas the Floridian legends work was characterised by the more technical guitar playing influence of drummer Chris Reifert's previous band, Death, Winter is pure, utter, unadulterated doom. The cover art sets the scene - of what looks like the remenants of a settlement after a nuclear holocaust with two blackened ghostly figures standing by. The music rarely picks up from a funeral pace, and you find yourself following the drum patterns more than the very basic but effective guitar work, which makes for an interesting listen. The vocals painfully accompany the apocalyptic miasma, sounding like a dying man coughing up the last energy left in him. All in all, definately recommended if you like your music slow, dark and raw.
7.5/10
Highlights : "Freedom Opression", "Eternal Frost"
See also - Black Sabbath - "Black Sabbath", Cathedral - "Night Of The Seagulls", Autopsy - "Torn From The Womb"
No comments:
Post a Comment