A Winter Lost…Weltenende (2010)

All the way from Romania’s Sun and Moon Records we received an album from “A Winter Lost”, a Canadian band. While the band’s style is far from original, they manage to craft 6 songs of pure unadulterated raw and grim Black Metal that will send you into a suicidal mood immediately.

For almost 30 minutes “Weltenende” will take you back to the times when Black Metal was raw and simple. The band utilizes a few atmospheric elements to add eeriness to their music like acoustic guitars and female vocals, but the overall simpleness of the music is what makes it more effective.

Starting with “Der Schrei” the mood is set and the darkness is just starting. In this track we have slow paced Black Metal with hellish vocals that will make your skin crawl. The drumming is surprisingly good (for a 3 person band) and the overall track composition is very straightforward.

The atmospheric elements are introduced in “Weltenende” and change the pace a bit, adding more creepiness to the band’s sound. In “Aus der Welt” the band starts off with a different and ‘happier’ approach to things creating a very intoxicating rhythm that is kept through the song. The female voice is very angelic and creates a very nice contrasting feeling to the grim Black Metal shrieks.

The atmospheric passages of “Der Träumende” make this song by far our favorite of this release since it features the best of both worlds. By the time you get to “Der Sturm” you can quickly predict what’s going to happen since the band keeps the same approach to things. Here is where things tend to feel a bit formulaic and you can start questioning the band’s creativity, but since the song is still very effective we don’t mind this at all.

In general we think that A Winter Lost is a pretty solid band that just needs a handful of new ideas to craft better releases. The overall eeriness of the music and the raw approach to the genre is what makes them very effective. If you are looking for a cold and grim Black Metal release with atmospheric touches, definitely checkout “Weltenende”.

Release: November 8th, 2010

Country: Canada