Winterfylleth are back with The Unyielding Season; album number nine, full of more soaring and epic black metal but this time, a harder edge.

WINTERFYLLETH

There is always an element of excitement when a well established band returns with new material. Winterfylleth are around two decades in with eight albums under their belts. In that time they have transformed into one of the standard bearers for the genre in the modern day.

It has been stated by the band that The Unyielding Season is more aggressive in nature, with a bigger leaning into more modern day issues through poetry and word rather than just tales of Olde England. There are all the elements of the Winterfylleth DNA on show, but this one hits different.

HEROES OF A HUNDRED FIELDS

Heroes Of A Hundred Fields, the albums lead track, opens in ferocious fashion. There is no subtle introduction or lamenting acoustic line. This is heads down, straight into the pyre stuff. As a statement of intent for what is to come, it is a perfect opener. When you think there is going to be a break in the opening salvo around 90 seconds in, it just flits back and continues to pummel. Brilliant tempo changes and superbly layered synths take the song to the mid point. There is a little let up, but that aggression that was mentioned, this is where you feel it first. The density in the riffs and drumming make a huge impact.

Echoes In The After has also been released as a teaser; like its predecessor, it is unrelenting. It churns with brilliant double kick drums and peaks with that signature Winterfylleth lift off, reaching for the highest peaks possible. As the song moves to its end, there are more serene touches in the music.

A Hollow Existence adopts the choral/chanted vocals synonymous with Winterfylleth in the introduction as the drum motif circles. A lengthy opening is broken with a despairing snarl from Chris Naughton before the pace batters. Again, when the song hits the central point, the guitars swing like scythes, obliterating everything in their path. There is a certain glee to be found in the sound, but the song, by design and title speaks volumes as to what themes are on the agenda.

A hollow grows within all things
Lost truth will not enrich our souls
The world now drifts from its true self
And wanders, faithless, into dusk

Winterfylleth – A Hollow Existence

PERDITION’S FLAME

If you wanted more evidence of a more aggressive outlook, Perdition’s Flame delivers in spades. Like the album opener, a single cymbal crash gives way to fury. The guitars move through their paces like chainsaws. An apocalyptic tone comes again in the lyrics; ‘Let the flame be sword and spier, have it scour the soul and sky.’ Chilling stuff.

The cover art of The Unyielding Season echoes the sentiments of the album. Fires are blazing all around us; some literally, some metaphorically. Times are certainly incredibly unnerving, and this record could help channel some of that confusion and disillusionment. To this writer, it feels like an album that can do the screaming for you. One of those records that if you’re feeling at odds with the world and the shit we have to deal with, let The Unyielding Season speak for you. In the title, track, we get the first real extended ‘slower’ moment. A hauntingly beautiful lead guitar melody veers on solo territory, propelled once again by Simon Lucas excellent drumming. What sets this track apart is that there is no trip back into the furiously bludgeoning pace. It fades to black. It sets up the acoustic interlude of Unspoken Elegy. Naturally, it is mournful and prophetic.

IN ASHEN WAKE

Unspoken Elegy is perfectly placed on the album; it leads to arguably, the albums highlight. In Ashen Wake is a hulking piece that swells with synths before various guitar tones add unnerving dark hues. The almost three minute introduction lands like a battering ram as the quintet coalesce in rage. Deeks, Doyle, Dobson, Naughton and Lucas have an incredible chemistry. It oozes out of the music, and especially on In Ashen Wake. With an unrelenting pace, there are some really cool guitar parts that spew from the core like solar flares. You can also hear some interesting little drum fills too. A nine minute duration absolutely flies by in the blink of an eye, with not one second to waste.

Ash falls slowly on pastures
And covers tracks of former kin
Flames now hollow in their conquest
Must all burn and start again?

Winterfylleth – In Ashen Wake

TOWARDS ELYSIUM

Towards Elysium has a mid pace tempo but gives no quarter in its aggression. Elysium by definition is a place of happiness and bliss. Placed towards the end of the album, you could be forgiven for thinking that there is a crack in the darkness to let the light in. The ominous feel continues, especially in the music. Like Perdition’s Flame, it feels like another bout of catharsis. To bookend the album proper, Where Dreams Once Grew is another acoustic lament, served on a bed of deep and subtle synths. It feels otherworldly, however, these songs talk of a real world that we are all immediately privy too right now.

The Unyielding Season is an album that acts as a solemn requiem for our world, full of blistering heat both sonically and metaphorically. Yes, the songs are deeply rooted in poetry and literature, but the meanings in the songs are two, even three fold. It is up to the listener to unravel the anguish. Again, Winterfylleth craft a masterful album that builds on their own legacy with an assured confidence to go deeper. For long time followers of the band, you will hear the nuance in how The Unyielding Season shifts musically. This would be a great place to start for new listeners. It is a record that is an undoubted success and one that could well be their best yet.

For a deeper dive into the albums themes, check out the interview that Jackie Smit of Into The Necrosphere conducted with Chris Naughton and Simon Lucas here. You can also check out the bands April tour dates with Blackbraid, here.

Winterfylleth: Bandcamp

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