Dismal Fields of Nihilism

"Black Winter" is part of Greece's new generation of black metal musicians and they really seem to know what they are doing. The band manages to combine a bit of the old occult flair that was present in the scene between the years 1991 - 1997 with new, more modern melodic elements excellently.

This demo features five songs of melodic Greek black metal, the first one of them being a nifty piano intro, which sets the perfect mood for the rest of the record. The remaining tracks are quite original, fast black metal songs filled with oldschool and newschool melodies (no, not melo-death, or any -core influence, don't worry), thundering drum work and harsh vocals.

The lead guitar is a very prominent part of Black Winter's sound; the rhythms are mostly fairly simple tremolo-riffs or powerchords in slower sections, but the combination works better than its description may sound.

"Hellenic War" is definitely the best track on this album, mostly due to the amazingly catchy leads; especially the fantastic harmonies that are scattered throughout the song are simply awesome. Neither of those leads are extremely technical, but very enjoyable nonetheless. At times, both guitars sound as if they are a human choir which sounds great due to the well-thought out harmonization of said riffs.

Astrous' vocals range from typical high shrieks to a few half-sung/half-spoken passages, which fit very well. His high shrieks are somewhat monotonous, but that's not a major fault.

As for the drums, Demonith does a great job behind the kit - great combinations of fast-paced doublebass work, few blastbeats and occasional triplets showcase a varied and skilled effort.

"Black Winter" are still a demo band and for that alone, I have to congratulate them for releasing such a well-produced, professional and well-written demo to the public. They do have a label now so I hope their first full-length will be out soon.

If you like Greek black metal or melodic black metal in any shape or form, then I can wholeheartly recommend this excellent demo to you.