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On disc: Winter's Verge



Tales Of Tragedy - Claudia Ehrhardt - 8 stars
Beyond Vengeance - Lars Bjørn - 6 stars


www.wintersverge.com







Beyond Vengeance

Beyond Vengeance
(Massacre Records - 2012)


Metal from Southern European countries is often totally different from metal created in the Northern parts of Europe, often much more use of keyboards and elements from pop music, and that is no matter what style of metal it is, with an exception of death metal. Cyprus does not have the biggest metal scene to speak of, but on the island the band Winter's Verge rules. They introduce their 3rd album where they play a mix of symphonic and powerful epic metal. With that wide frame the music should reach a large spread group of fans, but the music, oh dear, how is it this time. Mostly in the uncomplicated end of the specter, keyboards and too many repeats of their choruses, as if they needed something to put into the songs. Another thing that could annoy some people is, that Winter's Verge make their chorus come abruptly after a guitar solo, that is too harsh for me to swallow. Vocalist George Charalambous is the founding member of the band, but his voice is not strong enough to carry all the way on this album, on the fast and mid-tempo songs it is tolerable that he make a weak impression, but on softer songs he makes more damage than good.

The real quality of Winter's Verge is their ability to make catchy songs with melodic elements from hard rock and pop music and mix it with the heavier stuff that they also find in their songs. The next super quality they have is their guitarist Harry Pori, without him to set the sails the album would not have been able to leave the birds nest. But as a start comes Cunning Lullabies, a song with keyboard and super guitars in an epic slow style that serves well to warm up the fans. Paper Is Blank comes as the next pick, with great guitar rhythms, melodic and guitar solo, but too many repeats of the chorus drags down the view of the song. Bleeding Heart gives adventure and metal where they succeed with creating a powerful sound and grab the listeners by the bone. Threads Of My Life has a splendor of hard and fast guitar play and even Charalambous get a good result with his singing on this song that is one of the best of this album. Semeni is the searching for the girl called Semeni, it is done with both soft and explosive metal, melodic as well as a bit long drawn as it goes along. If they find Semeni is an open question, and if they sharpen up their concentration and metal direction Winter's Verge can probably make a super album next time, and with answers to the questions.


6 stars

Lars Bjørn
 

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Tales Of Tragedy

Tales Of Tragedy
(Massacre Records - 2010)


With Winter's Verge are from Cyprus and the power metal outfit is presenting their 2nd album. As almost every band they had to face some line-up changes. With Tales Of Tragedy they moved on and the album will be released via Massacre Records who right away got them on tour with Stratovarius!

The opener is World Of Lies, a power metal tune with epic parts and neo-classical elements. After Old Man's Wish they slowly kick off I Swear Revenge with whispered words and some symphonic sounds, but soon they speed up and add some heaviness. A bit too complex to be a real anthem, but the hymnic refrain makes it easy to get into this one. Piano and female vocals lead you into the balladesque For Those Who Are Gone where they add a flute and which becomes special due to the duet. But if you expect a female counterpart, then they will surprise or disappoint you, coz they add another male voice. A very cool, emotional tune! Later they go full force and the heaviness after the balladesque opening part is somehow blowing you away. Then the dual vocals are back - just more powerful!

At The Captain's Log they add some folk elements, but stay heavy! George Charalambous' vocals are expressive and have power. Whatever the songs requires, he's able to do it. And I bet that at Envy their twists and turns will surprise you! The long track Reflections Of The Past and the closer Curse Of Time will satisfy every open-minded power metal fan!
The quintet from Cyprus delivers a very solid album which fans of power metal should check out! The songs offer different elements, some songs are more symphonic while others are really heavy and guitar-driven. If they manage to bring this to life on stage while touring with Stratovarius, then they will make a lot new friends! Hope they hit the road again soon!


8 stars

Claudia Ehrhardt
 

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           ©2008-2014 by Claudia Ehrhardt • E-Mail: contact@ice-vajal.com


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