| CD REVIEW Gone Til Winter |
 |
|
Band : Gone Til Winter For a rather comprehensive history-of-the-band from this Manchester based British Gothic Metal act, I am glad to be able to direct you to the review I did of their 2006 demo-EP Deconstruct The Season (posted 4 January of this year, and therefore quite available for your fact-finding needs). As I mentioned in that same review, the band had signed a deal with Headroom Records for the release of 2 cd-singles and a full-length during 2009, and a single for the track “Hear Me” was to arrive somewhere in March, with the full-length to follow in April. Well, things got postponed somewhat, and the band’s official debut single was only released on May 11. By the time the single had landed at the Concrete Web offices and into my hands for review, the festival season here in Belgium had started, and as I’ve mentioned before, this meant down-time for the website, as our editor-in-chief’s his responsabilities as a representative for two reecord labels prevented him from spending time on anything else! Eventually that period passed, and we had a shite-load of reviews to post…a load in which apparently the review of GTW’s single got lost! Well, personally, I will not stand for such oversights, so here it is anyway, as it should’ve appeared! Gone Til Winter : Hear Me (Headroom Records - Plastic Head Distribution). Release date: 11/05/2009; Release: CD-single with video As mentioned in my review of this Manchester based 2006 demo (posted 04/01/2009), 2009 would be the year that Headroom Records is gonna issue two singles by the band, and a more complete CD release. Well, a self-titled mini-CD (and not a full-length as previously announced) is apparently under way with a release date set for June 22 (originaly slated for release in April)! Meanwhile, we get this video-enhanced one-track single (also originally slated for an earlier release, namely March 16), featuring the track “Hear Me” (as compared to the rest of their material, it certainly categorizes under the band’s “heavier” stuff)in a new version (the original was on the 2006 demo), recorded by Paul Sadler, mixed by Pat Grogan, and mastered by Willie Dammeier. Shooting for the video happenned during a gig played on November 25 of last (and that’s the second opportunity in recent days that I’ve had to mention my anniversary coinciding with an important event in a band’s live), an all-ages event to which fans were invited to preferably wear black clothing, aka “Metal” gear. The video that came from that shoot was put on-line starting February 20, and can be viewed at myspace.com/gonetilwintermusic, where you can also hear a sample of the sound-improved “Hear Me” (alongside two sneak preview tracks off the upcoming mini-album…which certainly had me sitting up front in my seat…and an additional track from a 2007 acoustic session – which is something vocalist Talena Smith and guitarist Jonathan Gruzelier did quite a bit in those days). Growing towards the iTunes release of the single on May 11 (other on-line places to download the track from are Amazon.com and Play.com, among others), the band had it sent out to several radio stations, and many (including again Bruce Dickinson and Kerrang! Radio) complied enthousiastically by airing it. Personally, I’m actually looking forward to what the band has made of their mini-CD debut! About the rating that’s missing: I don’t give points to 1-track singles, as they often are far from representable for a band’s complete aura…but I want anyone interested to know that I definitely like the band better now, than on the aforementioned demo! So now there’s this “full-length” release, but can one really talk about full-length when one is offered only 6 songs with a total playing time of just over 31 minutes? At any rate, it shows the diversity and totallity of the band quite appropriatedly. On the keyboards, you get an alternation of atmospherics with keyboads lines and piano passages…which are of course the instrumental part in giving the band its Gothic touch! Although overall the band uses a strong guitar line throughout their songs, there ARE some calmer moments as well (check the MCD closing and 8-minute long “Nameless Cry”, during which even singer Talena shows herself from her fraillest side, vocally speaking). If my review of the band’s Hear Me single (that track is also incorporated in this disc’s track-list and, by the way…forgive me for not mentioning this earlier…was also part of the band’s demo EP, as were the tracks “Constant Retreat” and “Nameless Cry”), I mentioned I like GTW a lot better these days (as compared to the demo recordings), and rightfully so, because soundwize they’ve gone ahead giant leaps! Check out the band’s music on myspace.com/gonetilwinter, and compare to what’s available from the demo on their own website gonetilwinter.co.uk, and you’ll have to agree! 90/100 Tony. |