Yesterday's Ghosts

Some bands fail by trying too much, others by trying too little: These Winds Are Not Hope certainly fall into the latter category. The melodramatic, sentence-long name seems, at least to me, fit more for some horrible deathcore band with lyrics about crying over murdered girlfriends. But no, this Macedonian band recalls the somber melodies of mid-career Katatonia and the clean-sung moments of the Finnish band, Rapture--the main difference being an arid indifference where there should be a wealth of authentically-felt anguish and despair; that's usually the only way to make this style of mopey metal worth a listen.

While MA lists this band as "melodic doom/gothic metal", this is really closer to albums such as "Discouraged Ones" and "Tonight's Decision"; just replace the genuine depressiveness of Katatonia's performance on those releases with a bland, post-breakup sentimentality, and you'll be close to the sound Of These Winds Are Not Hope. The failure of this release has very little to do with technical reasons. While each instrument consistently fulfills its role with a basic level of competence and the vocals are blandly tuneful--far more fit for rock than anything approaching metal--each song is absolutely interchangeable. The melodies have an appropriately sensitive and yearning feel, but never really leave any truly poignant impression on the listener's emotions, in the way that nearly any song from Rapture's excellent first album, Futile, so effectively does.

Beyond simply suggesting an abandonment of this project, I think the best thing that the members of These Winds Are Not Hope can do is have a long night's listen to the truly harrowing masterpieces of depressive rock/metal by Anathema, This Empty Flow and, for a more aggressive example, the German act, Disbelief. In addition to creating more complexly-structured songs, these Macedonians seriously need to learn how to more powerfully convey their apparently melancholy character through stronger melodies and more convincing vocals. Otherwise, the only pain they'll continue to convey is their nonexistent musical identity.