Wynterborne Demo 2007

Wynterborne plays a unique form of progressive melodic death metal. I could definitely compare their progressive / technical style to a more brutal Into Eternity. A lot of bands these days try to be too over the top with their technicality, attempting to be a new Cephalic Carnage / Necrophagist, but it usually ends up being a jumbled mess of noise, sweeps, and gravity blasts.

Wynterborne does nothing of the sort. They blend their harmonies beautifully, and know exactly when to build it up and break it back down. The songs have a wonderful flow to them without being too “mathy”. Catchy riffs and vocal patterns are very present on this release. There is a lot of talent in this band, and there's definitely an element of humility. You don't see three hundred arpeggio sweeps per song. Solos are placed in exactly the right spots at the right time.

I'm really impressed with their bassist. Everything is mixed perfectly, so the bass isn't too buried, and if you listen closely you can hear the bassist doing some pretty wild tapping and bass lines, something that most bassists shy away from. And he doesn't play with a pick! Kudos to that!

The vocals sound great. The cleans are really well done, which is a shock because most cleans on demos come out like garbage. The only complaint I have about the vocals is sometimes they sound very airy. I'm not sure who is to blame on that, the vocalist or the engineer, but I think for future releases, the band should make sure the vocals don't sound so dry. Besides that, the production of this demo is done fairly well. The drums don't sound too synthetic,

What I really love about Wynterborne is that you'll be listening to a cool riff, and out of nowhere pops out this really fast sweep, and then they hop back into the previous riff. Stuff like that left me with wide eyes and a “Wow that sounded really cool!” Its nothing too crazy, and everything is timed at exactly the right moment.

Overall, Wynterborne delivers a solid form of progressive melodic death metal. They offer technicality with catchy riffs and a solid driving force behind their music. There is a ton of punch and momentum behind the tunes on this release. This demo is definitely worth checking out, and can be listened in full for free on their MySpace.