The threat is real with Winterfylleth.
Just two years after their previous album, the band led by Chris Naughton (vocals/guitar, Atavist), Simon Lucas (drums, ex-Atavist), Mark Deeks (keyboards/backing vocals, Ard), Russell Dobson (guitar/backing vocals, Necronautical), and Mark Doyle (bass/backing vocals, live for Ard) unveils The Unyielding Season, its ninth album, with the help of its new label, Napalm Records.
The band kicks off without delay with Heroes of a Hundred Fields, an opening track that’s already highly gripping, where massive rhythms and visceral vocals clash with a thunderous force, naturally sweeping us into this tornado of darkness—as majestic as it is aggressive—where keyboards and piercing leads coexist. The track pauses briefly before picking up again, then leads us to Echoes in the After, which follows suit with a similar approach, pairing imposing tones with an unparalleled mastery of epic melodies, as heard in the successive, intoxicating soaring passages. The pace slows down for A Hollow Existence and its haunting touches that stand out during the intro, easily coloring the entire track while making it darker, creating a contrast with the very gentle finale, which is followed by the brutality of Perdition’s Flame, which kicks off abruptly and sweeps us into its infernal whirlwind. The rhythm section is also heavier, influencing the leads, which become haunting before leading into The Unyielding Season, the title track, which begins in a much more subdued manner and revives those intoxicating, melancholic tones. This track is by far one of the most soothing on the album despite the ferocious screams, with Unspoken Elegy offering a short acoustic ballad of nearly four minutes where the guitar and keyboards dance together, leading into In Ashen Wake’s synthesizers. While the opening moments are very gentle, the arrival of the guitars introduces a menacing edge, which is confirmed when the rhythm section and roars kick in, and the track takes on the air of a painful yet gripping lament before returning to aggression for Towards Elysium. The sound is far more abrasive, whether in the rhythm section or the dissonant harmonics, though it benefits from a more melancholic touch on the keyboards before finally leading into Where Dreams Once Grew, another acoustic interlude driven by the guitar that flows into Enchantment, a cover of Paradise Lost where the tone is much more ethereal, also featuring clean vocals to complement Doom-infused riffs to close out the album, proving that the band can also adapt to gentler sounds.
I’ve always held Winterfylleth in very high regard, as each album offers its own take on seizing Black Metal. The Unyielding Season is no exception; the album enchanted me from start to finish, and I didn’t even notice the hour passing!
95/100
