WYRMHAVEN – Seasons of Gloom

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6.5

• Bands:
  WYRMHAVEN
• Duration: 00:35:19
• Available from: 05/29/2026

The revival operation of these American guys, who made their long-distance debut through self-production after an EP and a couple of digital singles, even starts from the moniker.
Wyrmhaven, in fact, is nothing more than a tiny island in the video game universe of “Morrowind” (third chapter of the RPG saga of “The Elder Scrolls”), whose territory west of Solstheim has been claimed, depending on the era, by a clan of Chimer fleeing from the wars with the Dwarves, by a fire-breathing dragon, by a band of Nordic exiles, by the Breton kingdom of Farrun and by the Septim Empire.
A fantasy setting which, immortalized by the usual, flamboyant painting by Adam Burke (Blackbraid, Eternal Champion, Tzompantli), takes us directly back to the early 2000s, when two trends were establishing themselves in the United States – melodic metalcore and deathcore – which were then destined to attract followers and audiences all over the world.
It is in that perimeter, already chosen as a home by other contemporary groups (Dying Wish, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Your Spirit Dies, etc.), that the Arizona group threatens itself with the ten tracks of “Seasons of Gloom”, a work created under the supervision of Ryan Bram (Gatecreeper, Spirit Adrift) and Zack Ohren (Immolation, Machine Head) and fully adhering to the aesthetics and language of the many albums released in that window storm for labels such as Victory, Mediaskare or Ferret Music.

Said therefore of a formally unassailable package, which allows the quintet to present themselves in the best possible way to the audience, and of a remarkable technical quotient, a true constant for the stars and stripes bands, the album travels along that – insidious – barrier placed between melody and aggressiveness, between soft and sinuous movements and others that are more muscular and square, avoiding both to tread on solutions that are too rose water, and to insist on those sequelae of breakdowns that can dampen the dynamism and effectiveness of certain melodic death metal flecked with hardcore and virtuosity.
A flow from which it is clear how our artists have actually studied the classics of that period, with the works of As Blood Runs Black, Darkest Hour and The Black Dahlia Murder at the top of the list of models from which to draw, followed by others such as “Dead in My Arms” by Carnifex or “The Whispered Lies of Angels” by Undying in the economy of a mosaic aimed both at the 'leftovers' of that period and at the very young people entering the trend more recent times.

The final result is solid, well-kept, even if not always captivating in the same way, with the tracklist that winds through lively and successful episodes and others that, without going round in circles, sound more generic and lacking in solutions capable of dragging the listener and engraving the passages on the skin.
In this regard, Wyrmhaven give the impression of functioning better when the melodic vein – evoked only by the guitars, with the frontman concentrated on the alternation of screaming and growling vocals – is given the opportunity to express itself and carve out its space: songs like “Beneath the Pale”, “Violent Afterglow” or “Lifeless Oceans” are convincing quibbles from the MySpace era and the spread of the term New Wave of American Metal, whose airy and melancholic pills they interpenetrate the most aggressive parts with taste and a sense of proportion, showing all the current capabilities (and future potential) of the Tucson lineup.
The moments in which it hits hard, even going so far as to evoke the specter of people like Glass Casket or Burnt by the Sun, are those that see “Seasons…” lose a bit of momentum, as if certain solutions – however correct from the point of view of form – did not enjoy an equally lively and focused basic inspiration.
The balance, however, is and remains positive, for a first full-length where the lights prevail over the shadows and the path traced seems to be the right one to grow and establish itself. Anyone who loves the sounds described should write down the name somewhere.