Winterland - Blind | ||
| Tracks:
The Damnation Game |
The Band:
![[Image]](../../Images/winterland2.jpg)
|
Label: Producers: Winterland Year: 1998 Total Playing Time: 53:15 m:s Review date: 18 Aug 1998 |
| Web Site: http://gandalf.rz-zw.fh-kl.de/~pfeffe1
Email: Markus Pfeffer at Pfeffer.Markus@t-online.de Available at: "Blind" is available for DM30 ($18) - incl. P&P - from Winterland, c/o Markus Pfeffer, Am Wald 10, D-66851 Hauptstuhl, Germany. | ||
| Rating: 8 | ||
| Verdict: An entertaining album at the heavier end of the Melodic Rock market. | ||
| Winterland are a German hard rock band that I was introduced to through the internet by their guitarist Markus Pfeffer. They've got this album together for themselves and are hoping for a record deal. The band cover a variety of styles at the heavier end of the melodic rock spectrum.The songs were written in 1997 (apart from Changes & the cover - Everything Counts) and recorded between February and April of 1998.The band's influences include Tyketto, Savatage, Dokken and Ten. Of these, Savatage & Ten are the influences most audible.
The first time you play the album, the one feature you'll notice about the album is the vocals. Thorsten Fries isn't your average hard rock high-pitched screamer. The band compare his vocals to Gary Hughes/Ten and Dave Gahan/Depeche Mode. I'd say Dave Gahan is probably the closer of the two, although I don't have any DM records to hand to do a direct comparison. A while back, I got the Savatage's Wake of Magellan and Zak Steven is another vocalist that is a reasonable comparison. It took me quite a few listens to get used to the vocals, but now I see them as an integral part of the Winterland sound. I guess I've been programmed over the years to expect a certain style of vocalist fronting a rock band. Opener, The Damnation Game, is a moody affair that has got a bit of a modern feel to it. This is followed by the traditional 80s hard rock of Clearer And Clearer. European bands seem keen on including a Talisman style number on their albums. A Walk On The Sun is Winterland's perspective on the Talisman sound. Shadows is one of the tunes that owes much to Ten. If everyone is constantly comparing your vocalist to Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode why fight it, record a Depeche Mode song. A hard rock version of Everything Counts!!! Surprisingly it works. Changes is one of the bands earliest tunes and features some heavy riffs. Snow Falling is all about suicide and was written on the day Michael Hutchence killed himself, so the song is dedicated to the former INXS singer. Ain't Losing My Mind is the most Ten-like tune and one of my favourites on the album. Missing is the heaviest song on the album - Depeche Mode meet Metallica, not many people have tried that combination before. The Tables Are Turning shows a few tempo changes and hints at potential progressive tendancies. What rock album would be complete without a ballad. Neverland is an acoustic guitar ballad with a singalong chorus. The albums finishes off with another heavy offering, Blind. Winterland have created an album that will appeal to fans of melodic heavy metal. They combine elements from a number of styles - traditional hard rock, heavy metal, power metal, progressive metal and even AOR - to create a style of their own. An entertaining album at the heavier end of the Melodic Rock | ||
Melodic Rock Webzine
