WINTERBORN - review added 14th April 2009
Album Review: Farewell To Saints (2009)
For fans of: power metal... and albums with a couple of songs you'll remember forever.
Finnish band Winterborn have only existed for a few years but have already been through the all-too common ritual of line-up changes, management firings and hirings, delayed albums and, quite possibly undercooked buffet food and not enough M+M's in their dressing rooms.
For their 2nd release, the line-up is Teemu Koskela (vocals), Pasi Vapola (guitar), Jukka Hänninen (keys), Pasi Kauppinen (bass), Lauri Bexar (drums) and Antti Hokkala (guitars). A few of the guys add backing vocals. Indeed the harmonies are very strong throughout the album.
The sound has a wonderful amount of variety. There's loads of melodious effects whirling around with oodles of brutal heaviness and destructive rhythms. The album is a musical maelstrom with so much going on you can never work out which bit you like best. The fact the production is clear enough to pick out the separate ingredients is a tribute to guitarist Pasi Vapola who handled duties at Studio 57 in Finland.
'Black Rain' takes a while to get going, but the opening salvo of drum beats makes it worth the wait. 'Seven Deadly Sins' is a catchy little number with some fine melodic soloing and keyboards mixed in with an action-packed percussion section and heavy bass line. It's almost what a Eurovision song contest song would sound like if the competition was ever to be held in Hades.
'Overture 1939' is a brave and ultimately very effective track. It's quiet, almost acoustic and massively thought provoking. It's like a ballad built on the emotion of combat, not love. It leads into 'The Winter War', a thunderous song with a hell-hammer of a main rhythm. It's a song even the deaf should be able to enjoy. It's that loud.
'The Land Of The Free' starts off in a rocking but deceivingly average manner. The first couple of verses are reamed off with little drama or excitement. They are enjoyable and not without a touch of flamboyance, but they really don't prepare you for what's on the way. The bridge raises the bar a few notches when it starts, and perhaps begins to grab your attention... and then the chorus kicks in. How staggeringly brilliant?! It instantaneously grabs your cerebral cortex and gives it a big wet kiss whilst fireworks resonate in the sky above. If the chorus had private parts they'd be bigger and better looking than yours. If it was an eagle it would have an 18 foot wingspan and dine exclusively on people who ride gold plated mopeds.
'Emptiness Inside' is a slower number with ballad-tainted intentions. It isn't a cuddle-on-the-dancefloor effort, but there's a deliberate air of romantic mysticism about it. 'Last Man Standing' is as heavy as a 20 story giant wearing lead soled boots and carrying a tungsten rucksack full of granite. It rips along like an out of control freight train and is absolutely f*cking awesome! It's so good, describing it without swear words should be punishable by uninvited bottomly intrusions... or a cessation of such activities if you enjoy them.
Final track 'Another World' is a 10 minute epic which travels down countless avenues and through numerous styles and musical genres. It's almost an album in itself and should by rights be a jumbled mess, but it really is very good. It isn't a song to listen to as a quick fix - It's a song to savour and enjoy the nuances of. It has a depth of talent greater than many full-length LP's. The understated heaviness, the proggy interludes, the melodies and, actually, the performances themselves are all exceptional. It sums the album up to perfection.
Farewell To Saints has a brilliant sound, numerous memorable moments and a couple of utterly storming tracks. It spends considerably more time being superb than it does being average. It perhaps won't appeal to everyone, but everyone should still give it a try.
Check out... The thrash and heaviness of 'Last Man Standing'.
Track List:
01. Black Rain
02. Chaos Dwells Within
03. Seven Deadly Sins
04. Overture 1939
05. The Winter War
06. The Land Of The Free
07. Emptiness Inside
08. Nightfall Symphony
09. Last Man Standing
10. Another World
Label: Massacre Records
Artist's websites: Winterborn , MySpace
