Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter

Sweden lays claim to one of the greatest metal albums of all time, and while that may seem like a grand statement it is right on the proverbial money. In fact, in my humble assertion, Scandinavia has bragging rights to the three greatest black metal albums ever in Mayhem’s ground-breaking De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Bathory’s epic Blood Fire Death and Vinterland’s Welcome My Last Chapter. When it comes to this accredited “second wave” of black metal it pretty much reads like a how-to book with these three albums. Vinterland has D.F. Bragman and Andreas Jonnson from The Black and together with Fredrik Lundkvist they managed to fashion a tremendously important and lasting opus in Welcome My Last Chapter, a virtual masterpiece in a never-ending line of black metal releases that are copious amounts of mediocrity and rehashing.

From the very first track, “Our Dawn of Glory” the utter insanity and unquestionable beauty of this album hits like a mace to the face, sudden and surprising, and the immediate feel of the standard black metal sound is often overwhelming and arguably unforgettable. From track to track, Chapter is a literal biblical collective, a vastly undervalued gem in the metal world that transcends the formulaic efforts of virtually any band that dares to call itself “true” blackened metal. When you think of true art forms put to music, for black metal, nothing truly calls upon the forces of darkness and evil like this album. The speedy tones provides the meat from this offering, often so encompassing that you might find yourself outside of yourself and getting lost in all that is this recording.

With such strong and provocative tracks like “I’m an Other in the Night” and “Still the Night is Awake” the scene that has seen nothing short of sadistic imitators since things exploded in Norway in the early 90’s will always remain pure with such brilliant assemblages as this floating around the underground. To say that this album as a whole is brilliant or resonating simply does it little justice; it’s powerful and sincerely gorgeous within itself, providing what can only be described as the perfect stabilizer for a dark, cold mood. Usually when you hear an album from this genre you might pick out certain songs that simply speak volumes or capture the essence of your particular state of being. This album simply must be heard in the proper song order with the proper surroundings and without any peripheral distraction to harbor your attention.

“So Far Beyond…(The Great Vastforest)” is nothing short of delightfully enchanting with its piano that can serve as either high praise for a life well versed or as punishment for an existence self-served. It sincerely is one of the more lovely pieces of music I’ve heard from a metal band, delivering a serene massage to the senses, no matter how dismal your particular frame of being might be that day. In all ways this album is just as close to perfect as it gets.  

Without reserve, this album is the ‘be all, end all’ of black metal magic from the Swedish scene.

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I must admit I arrived late to the Vinterland game. I had seen this album many times over the years in various record shops and passed on it for whatever reason. I also admit to not being able to find my own copy anywhere since it was out of print for many years, so I had to find Mp3 files to satiate my palate after hearing such high praise for this little album from a Swedish outfit that hadn’t really been in the front of my mind at any point. The very second I heard “Our Dawn of Glory” kick in I smiled so wide I must have looked insane. I was immediately entranced and completely converted.

This album, in many ways, serves as one of the most important black metal releases ever due in large part to its amazing talent at creating some of the most horrific images within the span of nine tracks. While everyone in the scene knows Dissection, Mayhem, Burzum and Marduk, it’s this little trio that created one of the grander pieces of music these ears have ever heard. To be honest and clear, I will go as far as to say this may very well be my favorite black metal release simply because the tracks evoke irrational and unnatural feelings of horror, despondency, beauty and longing inside me. I can honestly claim that this is one album that fascinated me so much that I would find specific times to sit alone in the darkened room and just listen to this in one sitting; I had to feel the complexity and tribulations of life simply fade away because whatever loomed larger in this music was too enticing to place at second stance to any other emotion. This brilliant album does that for me every damn time I put it on.

I eventually found my copy from Disinter’s Mike Le Gros, who graciously sold me his copy some months back, and it is one of the prizes of my fleet, let me tell you. I have ingested this CD so many times that every nuance, every chord, every breathy vocal, every ethereal keyboard from Dan Swano is etched into my brain with seriously puzzling passion. What makes this CD so damn magical is only answered in its essential charm and design that can barely be measured by anything other than the aforementioned Bathory and Mayhem releases. What De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and Blood Fire Death have are volatile, straight-forward evil recordings with which to set the bar as high as possible. Vinterland steps right up to the front of the line and, with subtle arrogance and quiet intelligence, wipes the line from the sand and basically says goodbye to any and all latecomers.

For what poses as black metal today, this trendy mallcore corpse-painted rhetoric that is laughable and distasteful, an album like Welcome My Last Chapter causes serious ripples in the waters of the underground scene from Scandinavia and spits in the withered face of commerciality. Everything that was prideful in the black scene back in the day has long since been erased, there’s no denying that, yet we look to the past and spot the diamonds in the rough and polish them to a blinding shine so as to freeze time accordingly. At this stage of the game it’s all we can do, so Vinterland will always be as important a band as anything that came out back in the days of church-burnings and whatever other funny business you care to dig up from memory. This album is, by far, one of the absolute works of art for the black metal ages.                           

Release Date: March 4, 1996
Label: No Fashion Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Our Dawn of Glory
2.  I'm An Other In The Night
3.  So Far Beyond...
      (The Great Vastforest)
4.  A Castle So Crystal Clear
5.  As I Behold The Dying Sun
6.  Vinterskogen
7.  Still The Night Is Awake
8.  A Winter Breeze
9.  Wings of Sorrow

Total playing time:  42:35

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Classic Review

October 4, 2010

Reviewer: Chris