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8.0
- Band:
WINTERFLYLLETH - Duration: 01:15:04
- Available from: 09/13/2024
- Label:
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Candlelight
We can consider the new “The Imperious Horizon” as the album of definitive consecration – if there was still any need – for this Albion band who has reached their eighth full-length.
Nowadays – not only in England, but in the whole of the United Kingdom – there are few bands that in the black metal field manage to express themselves at the level of the quintet from Manchester. The recording and production are once again impeccable and have been taken care of in the smallest details by Chris Fielding (Primordial, Napalm Death and others) in his Foel Studios in Wales, and then received the final mixing by Mark Mynett (My Dying Bride, Rotting Christ).
The band, which has a new lead guitarist, Russell Dobson (Necronautical), thanks to his good taste in music and while not disdaining fast parts, manages to make black metal less aggressive than it actually is. The sound of Winterfylleth lives on epic high notes, it is sophisticated, at times mystical and elaborate, often elegant and for these reasons it distances itself from what is considered the 'classic' black metal: there are acoustic parts, others symphonic and melodic but always imbued with a great evocative atmosphere; after all these years it is now known that the black metal of this band is certainly not 'true' in the most traditional sense of the term.
Still speaking of evocativeness, the cover (even if perhaps a little obvious and already seen) contributes to increase its power; moreover it can be misleading, in the sense that its simplicity does not reflect in any way what is instead the elaborate music of Winterfylleth.
Even this time you will find long songs, a recurring feature in the albums of the English and also the total duration is important, but nothing seems superfluous and all the songs have their own complete meaning. The album is full of dark suggestions, from “Like Brimming Fire” to “The Insurrection”, passing through the masterpiece “In Silent Grace” in its classic version and in the bonus version, in which there is the presence of the great Nemtheanga of Primordial.
The feelings that the band pours into “The Imperious Horizon” are many, and offer the songs ever-changing nuances, from melancholy to decadence, passing through anger and desperation. We can talk about 'emotional' black metal precisely because emotions are what shape the core of the songs and subject it to their own fickleness: for this reason listening to this work is an experience, because so many are the sensations that the listener will feel in the span of just over an hour of music, as strong as the atmospheres that surround each single song; the band in fact infuses contrasting feelings, because if on the one hand we pine for a world that is increasingly disintegrating, on the other hand the anger grows for the sins of man in this process of (self)destruction.
Even the most 'standard' songs like “The Insurrection” are adorned with magnificence, and the choice of the cover (present in the digipack version) of Emperor's “The Majesty Of The Night Sky” is a demonstration of how far the English band wants to go to merge their music with the depths of the celestial vault.
We leave it to the fans to judge whether “The Imperious Horizon” can be considered Winterfylleth’s best album or not, but we are certainly faced with a release that shows everyone how black metal can be both ferocious and refined at the same time.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM