2012

If you first read that this was produced by Cristiano Bertocchi (Labyrinth) and mastered by Goran Finnberg (Opeth) this Italian band, Wind Rose, will immediately have your attention and your criticism level would go up a few degrees. Luckily for everybody, the band delivers very well crafted melodies that dance around the area of bands like Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, etc, and their mixtures of fantasy/medieval elements with Power/Progressive Metal. With fifteen songs in “Shadows Over Lothadruin” this new band showcases their musical abilities with a very nicely flowing and epic feeling release.

First thing that annoyed us a bit is that all SEVEN of the instrumental tracks are standalone songs rather than being incorporated into the previous or following track, we don’t really need a count of 15 songs when you really have eight. Peskiness aside, this does not really affect the release in any sense but it is a picky thing from our side (and some of our readers we have heard). “The Endless Prophecy” marks the album’s first real track and has a very playful feeling to it, while keeping all the requirements of an excellent Progressive/Power Metal song: killer vocal arrangements, solid drumming and crazy guitar work. “Siderion” follows in the same vibe, but the song does have a familiar ‘medieval’ feeling to it that feels like it was taken from somewhere else.

Cranking out their second release of 2012 through Neurot Recordings, Italy’s incomparable Ufomammut delivers another devastating five tracks of pure Psychedelic Doom destruction unlike any other band can produce. The band continues on their ORO trilogy with this second album titled “Opus After”, and from the looks of it, it will be another killer concept trilogy indeed. We quite enjoyed their first ORO release titled “Opus Primum” and this one just keeps getting better.

Opening with the very funky “Oroborus”, the band nicely sets a 60’s/70’s mood with psychedelic guitars before switching into more distorted Doom riffs. The track nicely progresses and works as a perfect lead-up to “Luxon”, the album’s first undisputed single. In this track we are treated to a more Ufomammut signature Doom with pounding riffs and disgruntled vocals. The weird atmospheric hints are dead on in creating an odd ambiance that nicely fits the band’s very dark and crushing sound. This track also reminded us of Year of No Light and their excellent “Ausserwelt”.

The Finish masters of Folk Metal return with another hard-hitting dosage of brilliant music that while to as good as “From Afar” it is still pretty damn entertaining. Pummeling through ten tracks, “Unsung Heroes” has very similar vibe to the band’s earlier releases: “Ensiferum” and “Iron”, but with a much more capable vocalist in Petri Lindroos. The thing we love about Ensiferum is that the band does not dwell on trying to fit millions of instruments into 4 minute tracks, but they rather focus on crafting epic melodies with the basic guitar, bass guitar, and drums combination.

Creating the perfect epic ambiance, “Symbols” opens the release in a manner that we imagine some epic medieval stuff happening like on Game of Thrones. ”In My Sword I Trust” is your quintessential ‘battle song’ with epic arrangements, powerful guitars, and very commanding vocals. Keeping up with excellent melodic guitars and very present Folk-elements, “Unsung Heroes” keeps the mood and morale quite high. This is why we prefer Ensiferum to bands like Eluivetie and Turisas, the band knows exactly how to keep the momentum going, deliver epic songs, and fuse Folk elements without overpowering the guitars and the general direction of the music.

In the age where marketing is everything for young and upcoming bands, it is quite a joy to be reached by one of those ‘upcoming projects’ and have the chance of reviewing ‘their’ first single titled “The Dream”. Upon Wings is a female-fronted, one person band (for what we can find), that mixes very beautiful operatic style vocals (courtesy of mezzo-soprano Anne Erickson) with a hypnotic atmospheric vibe.

The band’s debut single “The Dream” is a 3 minute long track that also has a very interesting video to accompany it. We can’t really hear any guitars, drums or any Metal or Rock elements, but we do get some haunting vocal arrangements and a very ethereal atmosphere. The vocal layering is quite interesting and we can’t wait to hear what else this band can come up with in the future. This first single track shows promise and only time will tell if Upon Wings can deliver in terms of a full-length release, until then go and checkout their video here