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August 28, 2008 |
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WINTER SOLSTICE - The Fall Of Rome
Metal Blade (2005) |
9/10 |
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01. Following Caligula
02. Calibrate The Virus
03. Watcher
04. Courtesy Bow
05. The Fall Of Rome
06. Malice In Wonderland
07. 55/23
08. The Hampton Roads Fourth Annual Parade Of The Blind
09. To The Nines
10. L'aeroport
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Man, I love getting promos when they're this good! But I digress. Hailing from Lynchburg, Virginia WINTER SOLSTICE are described as 'Hardcore-influenced Thrash Metal'. Okay. I'll go with that...I guess. I don't know about the 'Thrash' part so much, but I do hear the 'Hardcore'. I guess when I see/hear the term 'Thrash' bandied about (as it so often erroneously is these days) I immediately tend to think in terms of say, DESTRUCTION, KREATOR, and OVERKILL to name but a few. What WINTER SOLSTICE offer however comes across more to my jaded and long-suffering Metal ears as almost wholly NWOSDM-influenced Hardcore. No, dude...not 'Metalcore'. Metalcore makes me think of bands like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE or SHADOWS FALL, and these guys are far more caustic than even those great acts. The sound I'm talking about here is simply straight-up, no-B.S., Swedish-style Melodic Death Metal!!!
I mean, this sounds so much like 'Chainheart...'-era SOILWORK or 'Rusted Angel'-era DARKANE it ain't even funny! Sure, there's more than a few 'shout outs' and 'chug-along-Cassidy' riffs to justify the Hardcore implications, but truly this beast is cold-hearted and cold-steel-gleaming frosted to the core! If I had to compare these guys to one band in particular I would have to say DARKEST HOUR. Truly though, in terms of sheer fury and aggression, WINTER SOLSTICE are in a league all their own.
But first, some history: Only recently emerging from below the proverbial radar, underground faves WINTER SOLSTICE (including Matt Tarpey/vox, JT Turner/guitars, Caleb Goins/guitars, Nathan Smith/bass, and Duke Cuneo/drums) have been storming around the live cicuit since roughly 2000 with everyone from UNDEROATH, AS I LAY DYING, NORMA JEAN, and THE BLACK DHALIA MURDER to BLEEDING THROUGH, BURY YOUR DEAD, DEATH BY STEREO, IT DIES TODAY, and many, many, maaannny more. Renowned for their energetic, intense, and uncompromisingly aggressive performances, WINTER SOLSTICE got their proverbial 'big break' when they 'wowed' crowds at the 2004 Sonshine Fest in Wilmar, Maine, apparently stealing the show and subsequently releasing their debut 'The Pulse Is Overrated' on Harvest Earth Records.
Naturally it wasn't long before Metal Blade realized the talent on offer within WINTER SOLSTICE, and now the Lynchburg 5-piece are firmly entrenched as new members of the highly-regarded Metal Blade stable with their astonishing sophomore effort 'The Fall Of Rome'.
Graced with some of the slicker and classier packaging I've seen for a few months, 'The Fall Of Rome' is something of a conceptual piece; a diatribe even, reflecting upon the oft-made comparisons between the final days of the crumbling, decadent Roman Empire, and the current, troubled state of the United States as a declining world power in the modern, western world. Intense, heavy subject matter to say the least. As a result, it's obviously only appropriate that the same level of heaviness and intensity be channeled through the music. Well, mission accomplished. Again, this album just does not let up! From start to finish the unwary listener is bludgeoned with unrelenting, remorseless riffage reminiscent of the best of the glory-daze Swedish onslaught of yore! Song constructs are meaty and solid, with a concrete spine of darkly infectious riffage, and a tasteful display of melodic leadwork laid shimmering and hook-laden as newfallen snow overtop.
Vocalist Tarpey howls tale after tale of mankind's folly like a pain-demented wolf struggling to tear it's leg from a trap, and is only too happy to shove the bloodied, snapped-bone stump into your face after the fact. From opener 'Following Caligula' through the mayhem of 'Calibrate The Virus' through personal fave of headbanging assault 'Courtesy Bow' and beyond...man, this is some unrelenting Metal! The aural equivalent to an invading barbarian horde shattering the city gates. Just a brutal, brutal album. WINTER SOLSTICE never once ease their collective grip on the fury and hate that pours black, and cold from each track like a sonic suckerpunch to the psyche. A welcome shot of fuel-injected East-Coast adrenaline to a scene which of late has - IMO - been coasting on its laurels for far too long. To close, know this: the summer of Metalcore clones and copycat Hardcore bands is officially and prematurely over before it has even begun.
WINTER SOLSTICE have arrived. And this is no gentle snowfall that descends upon the greying landscape either. This is a blizzard my friends. A cold, unrelenting, and uncaring METAL blizzard.
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