ALBUM REVIEW: The Imperious Horizon – Winterfylleth
It’s hard to imagine a time where Manchester’s WINTERFYLLETH weren’t occupying the upper echelons of black metal. The band have proved, consistently, over nearly two decades that they are masters of their craft and whenever a new album emerges the horizon, there is rarely a thought that they’ll produce something sub-par. With album number eight, The Imperious Horizon, the band have struck gold once again.
WINTERFYLLETH have long excelled at fusing folk-laden orchestrals with their black metal and album opener, the instrumental First Light, feels like the perfect companion to the stand upon the fields of Albion before Like Brimming Fire lives up to its namesake as the band erupt and unleash a cacophony of blastbeats and frosty riffing. It’s relentlessly fast-paced and Chris Naughton‘s raspy vocal snarls cut through the distortion like a hot knife through butter. An imperious start to the record indeed.
From there, it’s business as usual for WINTERFYLLETH but don’t let that fool you in terms of the quality on offer. The Imperious Horizon is another staggering collection of sublime black metal. Recent singles Upon This Shore and Dishonour Enthroned both display the superb dual guitar work and a consistent barrage of blastbeats that keeps your headbanging, whilst Earthen Sorrows puts the band’s adoration for English folk front and centre and feels a previously unheard gem on folk-focused The Hallowing Of Heirdom.
In Silent Grace is arguably the pinnacle of what The Imperious Horizon has to offer. Weighing in at a staggering near 11 minutes, the track evolves and mutates across its lengthy runtime, showcasing the wide spectrum of the WINTERFYLLETH soundscape from gorgeous passages of self-reflection, epic metallic riffs that crash like a wave upon a rock, and the guest addition of PRIMORDIAL‘s AA Nemtheanga elevates the track to unfathomable heights.
Elsewhere, the likes of The Insurrection is a bonafide WINTERFYLLETH staple that could sit comfortably on 2010’s The Mercian Sphere, whereas To The Edge Of Tyranny shows that the band still possess the ability to surprise, despite being 18 years into their career. Here, the band opt for a near-four minute face ripper approach, harking back to the raw and visceral black metal of the 1990s and is bound to unleash bedlam when deployed live.
At this point, we’re running out of superlatives to describe WINTERFYLLETH. They are just that fucking consistently brilliant, and The Imperious Horizon is yet another triumph for a band who can seemingly never put a foot wrong. Expansive, vicious and yet delicately beautiful, The Imperious Horizon is a staggeringly good record and one of the finest black metal records you’ll hear this year.
Rating: 9/10
The Imperious Horizon is out now via Candlelight Records.
Like WINTERFYLLETH on Facebook.
