| Astral Winter-Illustrations of Death Review |
| Wednesday, 07 July 2010 03:50 |
Astral Winter-Illustrations of Death(2009) 1. Illustrations Of Death 2. Longing For Winters End 3. Beyond These Frozen Castle Walls 4. The Astral Kingdom (Outro Track) Hailing from Launceston, Tasmania Australia, Astral Winter was spawned in 2008 as a solo black metal project of Josh Young. In 2009, Phil Hemsworth became the vocalist of Astral Winter while Josh concentrated more on the instruments, composition, and programming. Later that year the first demo, Illustrations of Death, was released. This Demo/EP gained some attention from the underground scene. Illustrations of Death was limited to 200 copies and sold out within two months. So how does on describe the sound of Astral Winter? People will say melodic black metal, symphonic black, and others epic melodic black/death metal. The truth is that they are all these. I would describe the sound of Astral Winter as being dark and cold with a hint of rawness. From start to the end, we get an atmospheric piece filled with dark matters and cold feelings. The title track Illustration of Death displays a mature sound filled with atmosphere, a few mellow parts with acoustics, and aggression. I really admire Josh's musicianship as it is pretty sub par especially on the guitar. Man, can this guy shred with some awesome melodies. This first track will sink you in that is for sure. Next up is Longing For Winters End. This sort of has remnants from Cradle of Filth's, Dusk and Her Embrace... Longing For Winters End is another track that delivers. Astonishing epic atmosphere derived with synths and some killer guitar riffs. This is probably my favorite track on the demo. It captivates me all the time. Beyond These Frozen Castle Walls follows. This is yet another good track and for an 8+ minute song, it's well done. This track focuses on a more epic atmospheric level with fast keys, shredding riffs, and solos. Josh certainly out does it all with this track. Cold and bleak is all that I can say to describe this track. Finally, the outro track The Astral Kingdom concludes this Ep with a nice short atmospheric piano based instrumental. Thus light fades... In the end, Illustrations of Death proves it has what it takes to be a top contender in the underground black metal scene. Currently, Illustrations of Death is available for free download on the bands Myspace site. Note: Astral Winter have been writing new music and the full length album, Winter Enthroned, is scheduled to be released in around September 2010. The full length will have a darker musical and lyrical theme as hinted by Josh. Rating:  Click the banner to go to the bands Myspace site.  Review by Vyldr |
