| CD REVIEW Winter Of Life |
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Band: Winter Of Life The foundation of this Napoli based Italian band was founded in March 2000 by guitarists Peppe Sgró and Alessandro Martinelli, but it wasn’t until September 2002, when drummer Geky Capaccio, bassist Gianfranco Delle Cave, and keyboardist Dimitri Tetra joined them after several line-up changes which only worked to fortify their bonds, that things could actually start to grow seriously. The guitarists also taking on the vocal duties (Alessandro doing clean stuff while Peppe did the growls), the band released a 6-track demo (plus intro) one year later, the music displayed being a Gothic Metal strongly influenced by Progressive and Death Metal, with a very strong melodic component! Immediately after the recordings, Winter Of Life went through its final line-up change, when Martinelli left, to be replaced by guitarist Dario Bellicoso and lead singer Elia Daniele. Although soundwize of lesser quality, the demo got positive reviews, which in term ensured the band with reactions from music fans worldwide through the Internet. Concert promotors were swift to pick up on the momentum, allowing WOL to perform throughout Italy and occasionally outside their native borders. Among the higher profile gigs can be counted the support the band gave to internationally renowned acts such as Anathema, Destruction, Novembre, Theatres des Vampires, and Vader. FOL also managed to reach the semi-finals of the 2006 Metal Battle contest. According to their biography, the band has grown away slightly from their Gothic roots over the years, allowing elements from Indie, Progressive, Jazz, and Death to come through in their music than before. They’ve also increased the importance of the vocal input, with backings now coming from the whole band. With a great belief in their new material, and wanting to break out of the Italian isolation, the band then decided to record their full-length debut with the aid of Novembre’s Guiseppe Orlando, whom not only produced other bands before, but is also co-owner of the Rome based Outer Sound Studios, already known internationally for the fine products that have come out of there. In all,, the recordings apparently took a full year to be completed. Then, to maximize the sound, FOL sent the recordings to Mika Jussila for mastering at the famed Finnvox Studios in Helsinki. The release is then delayed a little more, as the band is waiting for the artwork, done by “Seth” Siro Anton (known from album cover work for the likes of Paradise Lost, Oceansize, Moonspell, Soilwork to name but a few), to be finished. In February 2009 they then sign with Casket Music, and that same month they also change their amateur status by signing a management deal with Alkemist Fanatix Europe. The end result is a nicely packaged 11-track album, which still wallows in the world of Goth, in spite of the band’s biography stating they moved away from it! The lead singer’s melancholic vocal signature (which is somewhat remeniscent of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder – well, I personally feel Elia would do marvels in a PJ cover band, I really do!) is too typical for the band to get removed from the Goth scene anyway! The mentrioned Jazz influence is rather limited though, only flaring up clearly in the album title track’s piano play! And the Death Metal influence is something I have doubts about, actually…rather the band plays with an overall heaviness which is quite “modern”. Say, about the keyboardist: I have to say, I personally feel he’s not that much present in an obvious way, doing his stuff in the background for the most part, adding atmospherics on top of the otherwize guitar-geared music! Obviously, the piano passages (see also “…As Back Then” and “If Silence…”) make his collaborations come out the clearest, yet don’t be mistaken, for his additions to the band’s music are what rounds it all off! Not that the guitarists’ Progressive play ain’t nice to start with, but the keyboards/ synth/ piano are what gives FOL’s music its overall fullness! If you’re into Gothic, or Dark Metal overall, check out the audio samples posted at myspace.com/winteroflife (with samples to 4 songs, an album sampler, and full-lengths of the album title track and “Form Of Egotism”, there should be enough available to get a good feel of the melancholic world this band lives in)! Having listened to that, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the band has a face of its own, and maybe the band simply forgot to put the word “typical” in front of “Goth”, when they stated that they moved away from that genre in their biography? 84/100 Tony. |