Winters Verge – Tales Of Tragedy (2010)

We don’t get to review too many bands from Cyprus and Winters Verge creates a great first impression with their third full-length album “Tales Of Tragedy”. The band manages to deliver a fine album filled with amazing Power Metal songs that will surely grab the attention of any fans of the genre.

Not being a huge fan of Power Metal and being impressed with an album of this genre has to mean that the album is very good. “Tales Of Tragedy” by far exceeded any expectations I had about it when I read the press sheet. Featuring 11 tracks of bombastic Power Metal clocking around 55 minutes, this is one release that you can’t afford to miss.

The thing that appeals to me the most of this release is the epic feeling it has to it. The album is highly dramatic and sounds like a very well executed Metal opera. Musically Winters Verge have managed to create a very rich album that greatly surpasses many of the current Power Metal releases from bigger bands like Stratovarius and others.

Featuring great guitar riffs and even more impressive guitar solos, “Tales Of Tragedy” will surely please any fans of the previously mentioned elements. The vocals are pretty good and the pitch never gets annoying (for me), they are up to par with the best vocalists of the genre. The drumming is pretty standard for a release of this genre, so there is nothing much to say about this.

However, the best element in my book is the lush keyboard arrangements created for the majority of songs, and while the keyboards usually maintain more of a backing stance in the music they are what made me like this album even more. They are not the traditional overly dramatic arrangements or the more modernly used ‘space sounding’ arrangements which tend to irritate me after a while since every single new band is using them.

Another strong point of this album is the band’s ability at writing both ballad influenced songs, and more straight forward riff driven Power Metal songs. In this album I find the ballad sounding songs, since they are very well crafted and the singers vocals provide the perfect harmonies to go with them.

If you have been looking for a solid Power Metal album, you should give Winters Verge a try. “Tales Of Tragedy” will surely be on our top 10 Power Metal albums of 2010.

Release: January 29th, 2010

Country: Cyprus