Hey folks,
The other day, I shared Nightmare Heaven with you from the avant-garde metal band Arcturus. And today, I have something from Winds, a side project of the Arcturus drummer Jan Axel von Blomberg and the former Arcturus guitarist Carl August Tidemann… The other members of the Norwegian neo-classical prog metal band are Lars Eric Si and the pianist, Andy Winter – a string quartet is also integrated into the band’s music and the classical flair is evident in their work. They don’t brings strings in for a few songs, strings are an integral part of what Winds do, which I reckon, sounds like they’re playing classical and metal at the same time.
Review of the band by our yorost:
“So if I had to describe this band’s emotion I would have to say, solemn. They are not blowing you away with massive sound or caffeine energy, they do it by messing with your head. [They are quite laid back…] but they are dark, even if it is in a different way than most metal bands go about it. If their music is screwy and somber enough they really sock you a new one with all their existentialist lyrics. Some bands say they’re writing a song about some topic and you go, what the heck, seriously? Not Winds, they say existentialist and you go, yeah, I get it, desperate and hopeless!”
“I tend to dislike strings in metal, especially when bands do really crappy string synths and when it’s not done tastefully… or when strings are used as an embellishment… then it just gets overwhelming and something easily sounds forced.”
“They haven’t done anything in a while, but that doesn’t mean they are dead. They are studio only, so unfortunately no hope of seeing them live, but I think Andy Winters has said a few times Winds is not dead, and that they are working on new material without trying to force anything out.”The song we chose from them with yorost is Reason Desire. It’s amazing how the tune opens with a punch and closes with another but chills through the middle. Just after the great intro, a very early and impressive solo kicks in… And after that point forward, the song gets darker and darker gradually… Strings are dark and creepy as well with the demonic vocals sending a chill through your spine… just brilliant!
Enjoy!
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