Fear

Cryptic Wintermoon have been around for years, one of the more melodic black metal bands to emerge from Germany in the 20th century, and Fear is their fourth full-length, independently released by the band themselves. Based largely on a World War I concept, the album has a very simplistic style which is different than many of the band's peers. The focus here is on creating a catchy vibe with every punchy note, and the band makes use of anything from acoustics to electronics to get their point across. Where it works, the album comes across as mildly entertaining. Unfortunately, some of the tracks went in one ear and out the other even after a few listens.

"Pride of Australia" is a slow, bombastic track with a catchy interplay between Ronny Dörfler's harsh vocals and the plodding guitar rhythms. Some thundering sound effects strike at precisely the right time in the song, and it's fairly powerful. Other memorable numbers include "Hellstorm Infantry", the snarling "Tales from the Trenches" and the black arousal of "The End". But there are some like "Last Letter" which seem to fall apart with a sloppy feel to the rhythms. All in all, I like the concept and a few of the songs had a dark glory to them worthy of the subject, but the album is simply not consistent throughout. I did enjoy it more than the band's past few releases, but there are just too many more impressive black metal albums out lately for this to have an impact.

Highlights: Pride of Australia, Hellstorm Infantry, Tales from the Trenches

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

A while back now, I heard the imposing and interesting name which is Cryptic Wintermoon on some concert flyer when they were playing with Eisregen some time in autumn, it was I think. Since then I immediately thought that they surely had something to present in an artistic type of way, don't ask me why, maybe it was fema... male intuition! Now, after having bought almost all their albums and seeing them live, (hell even interviewing them for the Metal Observer, where you can find some of my other reviews) a few years have passed and with the release of their newest brainchild "Fear", they still manage to surprise and entertain, while at the same time sounding mature in a positive way.

"Fear" is yet again another concept about war, killing... and more war. As if there aren't enough albums already that deal with this type of thematics, Cryptic Wintermoon certainly do not get the Nobel Prize for most innovative comeback this year, but certainly for the most faithful to their own style, and principals. Not much has changed since their last album, viewed completely neutrally, there is no sign of treading onto new territory or experimenting with a new style, everything is exactly how they left it. In an interview, guitarist Larsen states that the sudden change in Labels (from Massacre to none) occurred because they felt that they could do all the producing and promotion themselves, which is indeed a bold ploy. Cryptic Wintermoon however, have managed this jump masterfully and their recording is as crystal clear as the others.

Of course, this is the thing to expect from a band that is not as active as most other giants in the metal scene. The contribution to the metal scene in general with "Fear" is that of a lone hermit, documenting what he sees, and most importantly: what he feels. After a one minute long intro of a country song about war, which is not the first time Cryptic Wintermoon have sampled other songs into their own (the other being Bonegrinder 1916 with samples from a song John McCormack played) leading into a presentation of Australia's "Pride", presenting participation into war. Also with this release, the boys from Cryptic Wintermoon have wrote their first lyrics sung in German, which is very different, but not bad in any way. With that said, this leaves us only to explore this new production from Bavaria's Cryptic Wintermoon and give it a chance, maybe to fill the parts between our activities and actions, or just as a killer for boredom.

(written for metal-observer.com sometime in Octobre)