Verdict: Technical Power Metal
More info: http://www.winterfell.org/index.php
Winterfell are an unsigned American Power Metal band and this is their first full album release. I would describe their style as being a mixture of Iron Maiden and Metallica, with a few progressive elements thrown in as well. A bit research on the net whilst gathering information about the band indicated that Iced Earth are probably a good starting point in the comparison stakes.
In general the band romp their way through the tracks taking a fairly technical approach to their music with plenty of heads down virtuoso guitar. However, the band do also add variety to the sound using occasional acoustic sections and by taking a marginally more melodic approach than many other power metal bands.
This is an album that I found took quite a few listens to get into and in fact several of the tracks still leave me a little cold, although I can imagine that Power Metal fans will appreciate them. The tracks that worked best for me were ones which actually deviated from the standard approach on the album, such as the Metallica-like "Asatru" and "The Beggar King" and the 'melodic Sabbath' of "Once and Again". Of the more typical tracks opener "Threnody" was the one that stood out of the pack.
Overall, Winterfell have done a good job on this self-released album. The Power Metal sub-genre isn't one that particularly appeals to me and I found myself picking out tracks that resembled music that I am more familiar with as the best tracks.
