Winterfylleth are back with their eighth album, the first in four years, following on from ‘The Reckoning Dawn’ since when there has been a line-up change with the departure of Dan Capp, who has been replaced by Russell Dobson (lead guitar, vocals), who is also a member of Necronautical. He has joined founders Simon Lucas (drums, spoken word), Chris Naughton (lead vocals, guitar) and long-time members Nick Wallwork (bass, guitar, vocals) and Mark Deeks (keyboards, vocals). Winterfylleth have long been one of my favourite Black Metal bands, as they have a distinctive style which for me epitomises the best of the movement, so much so it is difficult at times to remember they are British and not from the fold dark north.

Of course we get a gentle keyboard introduction on “First Light” to set the mood, creating the atmosphere and evoking the feeling of people looking out of the cave over the dark landscape hoping for the sun to grace them with its presence. String-led, it is evocative even though we know there is ferocity to come, it is the calm before the storm which hits with “Like Brimming Fire”. Immediately we are into the riffing guitars, the driving drums and bass which is there but never overpowering. Naughton’s vocals are still as powerful and harsh as ever and the album was once again recorded and produced by Chris Fielding (Primordial, Napalm Death, Conan, Electric Wizard, Fen) while the post-production and mastering was overseen by Mark Mynett (My Dying Bride, Rotting Christ).

There is something about this which is dark, evil and compelling, and there is such a high level of intensity that it is somewhat difficult to understand why they would go off halfway through on such a complete tangent with the longest song, “In Silent Grace.” It is eleven minutes in length and features guest singer AA Nemtheanga from Primordia, and while it is a brilliant song it sounds very out of place in the context of the rest of the album, given its change in pace and style. It might have been better to have a different version, or different song, and have this as a bonus at the end, but as it is we lose some of the overall impact. That being said, this is still a very fine example of black metal from one of the UK’s main proponents and it is well worth investigating.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/Winterfylleth/
https://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk/