Band : Gone Til Winter
Album title : Deconstruct the Season
Label : (own release)
Distributor : (own release)
Release date : 2006
Release : (4-track) EP-CD

The core of this Manchester based Gothic Metal act was formed in 2001, when Talena Smith (vocals) and Jonathan Gruzelier (guitar) met at University. The two soon found a common musical base (Talena coming from ‘80s Goth, got heavily into the Grunge scene during her teenager years, then went through Goth/ Grunge and discovered the likes of Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, and added other bands in that Industrial mood of things to her bag of things to like, before starting to write her own songs; Jonathan on the other hand had a more “conventional” Metal background, being into the likes of Iron Maiden Metallica and the usual big names, with a few other bands thrown in for good measure), and things moved on from there.

They put up an ad for additional musicians, and first to react was keyboardist Nathan Jarvis. In the rhythm section department the band would be less lucky apparently, with people coming and going in the beginning years, but by 2006 (or earlier) the line-up had settled with bassist Joe Thomas and drummer Nat Taylor. Several demos had already been recorded over the years, and in 2006 the quintet decides to record 4 of their best songs for release on a self-financed EP. That’s what we’ve got here! Produced, engineered, and mixed by Paul Sadler (darn…whére do I know that name from?), the EP (the real thing, not a cd-R!) was then mastered by the band’s drummer (quite handy to have someone like that in your fold!)…we’ll come back to the material on that EP later, first a bit more of band history, okay?

In the beginning of 2007 the band come in a crisis where they were either gonna split up, or change things drastically. As there wasn’t a hair on the heads of either Talena or Jonathan that even thóught about quitting, the drummer and bassist decided to leave the band…all on friendly terms, no harsh feelings at all! Late August the band announced the happy enlargement of their family with the addition of new bassist Shirezy. With Talena & Jonathan playing the occasional acoustic gig, GTW also starts playing gigs again…with borrowed drummers. One of those early gigs was in support of I-def-I, Incassum and A Killer’s Fear at Manchester’s Club Academy in early October…and all of a sudden (still somewhat inperseptible at first) things start picking up! The band is followed by a documentary crew at their gigs (which start to come more frequently again now) and rehearsals, and the band even talks about possibly adding some video footage on a new EP they plan to record somewhere mid 2008. The year is ended in a happy mood when Bruce Dickinson plays their song “Solemnise” on his Friday evening show at BBC6 Music on November 30, introducing the band with the praising words: “…they show some serious promise at being ‘home grown’ competition in the female-fronted, bodice-ripping, Goth Metal department…”. Additionally, the band (in the form of Talena & Jonathan) gets interviewed by US webzine East Coast Romper. In the meantime, drummer auditions were completed, one Olive Peyton getting the job.

The first part of 2008 was apparently spent mostly in the rehearsal room (obviously the new drummer had to be broken into the band’s material), but meanwhile in the background some nice things were happening for the band with the band getting airplay in France during February and March on Aligre FM 93.1’s Rockford show. Also, the EP’s opening track “Nameless Cry” was added to the playlist of Radio Aktief 107.6 FM show Overdrive (that’s Belgium, baby!). Additionally Talena & Jonathan were invited in early May to pop in at Macclefield’s Silk FM to play an acoustic set and have a quick chat, and positive reactions to the band’s EP were now pouring in (Rocksound rated the EP a nice 7/10, for instance). Eventually, the band also got invitations to play at a couple of interesting events like the Maps Festival (Manchester, May 24) and Summer Explosion (Buntington, July 19). Mid October the (love) bomb drops: the band has signed an agreement with Headroom Records (who saw the band’s performance at Maps Festival)for the release of 2 cd-singles and a full-length CD during 2009, with distribution in the UK, Germany…and Belgium (plus worldwide digital distribution through the likes of iTunes and other online outlets)! Just to use name-dropping tactics, during this year the band managed to play hometown support slots for the likes of Profane, Forever Never, and Blaze Bayley.

So, back to the material at hand…and if there’s one thing you can say about GTW, it’s that they do not walk the usual path of what usually falls in the “Female-Fronted Goth Metal” category! And what with the band citing such musical influences as Soilwork, Iron Maiden, Still Remains, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, Dream Theater, Opeth, Dio, and Alice In Chains, you might imagine already that GTW is somewhat removed from your soprano-ish fronted Goth band, eh? A comparison which occasionally comes up (either through their live appearances or the EP’s reviews) is Lacuna Coil, but while I can see where the lead singers share a certain smooth-voicedness, I don’t see where the actual music can be compared. Well, Jonathan just might use a more down-tuned approach during live appearances, when compared to the studio recordings before me! Right…so, guitar work IS on the simple riff, catchy melody side…a lead part contributed rather to the keyboardist, who’s mixed fàr too much into the background of the sound overall! If anything’s improved on the band’s upcoming recordings, that has GOT to be it, really! To get a taste of the band’s music, surf to the media section of their own website gonetilwinter.co.uk (where you can download the complete EP) or to myspace.com/gonetilwinter (where one song off the EP is put alongside two more recent tracks and an interview – regrettably I can’t tell you anything about any of that, as I was pressed by time to find info on a load of bands just prior to a short holiday).

As for my personal appreciation of this EP, I have to say I AM a bit disappointed about the overall sound, as I feel the band could’ve gotten much móre out of things by simply mixing those keyboards to the front a little more (according to the info I’ve got, some of the EP’s tracks will be re-recorded…and I for one am living in anticipation to be able to compare the new versions to the old ones). Hence, the overall rating suffers a bit from that fact! The band’s official debut single Hear Me (nót a track off the EP) should be out on March 16, with the full-length to follow in April. I’m certainly looking forward to it!

78/100

Tony.