TRACK LISTING

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1.  Der Schrei
2.  Weltenende
3.  Aus der Welt
4.  Der Träumende
5.  Der Sturm
6.  Lied

Total playing time:  29:57

Release Date: November 8, 2010
Label: Sun & Moon Records

A Winter Lost - Weltenende

Reviewer: Chris

October 24, 2011

Canada’s three-piece black metal outfit called A Winter Lost issues Weltenende in an attempt to assuage the very fickle masses and lull them into a sense of atmosphere and brilliance. While the music doesn’t manage to infuriate me like most black metal bands of today do there’s a sort of familiarity that’s all too basic and not at all serendipitous for the album.

The vocals are a breathy shrieking that isn’t necessarily over-the-top like a Dani Filth, but it’s also not a low-key issuance either. It also seems to be mixed a bit too high, causing a more distracting essence rather than a complimentary nuance. There’s simply very little that holds my attention for very long here; the music can be captivating in spots, but sadly those spots are few and far between. If I find myself hooked on to a specific area of sound that tries to carry me over the din I’m suddenly distracted because the overall tone just falls flat. Now “Aus der Welt” begins with a very cool guitar intro that is laid under the distortion to the point where it’s practically criminal. When the throaty yelping comes in it totally shatters any hope I had for the track it’s also a crying shame. In fact, this song houses the most annoying vocal that completely overdoes the shtick and buries a beautiful acoustic guitar that might have otherwise been one hell of a curve ball and could have gone a dozen other places.

The funny thing about this album is the acoustic and less obstreperous movements are the more memorable ones. The acoustic intro to “Der Träumende” is not mind-blowing, but it is quite good. Further, the electric guitars come in and actually offer a small tangibility to the track; it’s actually the plasticity of the vocal pattern and tone that fall apart for me again. What I do find tremendously vibrant and a pregnant fluidity is the quieter pathways along the road through this recording. Had there been a little less volatility for volatility’s sake it might have been a better experience for me. “Der Strum” is actually a much better and enjoyable track with both its black metal aura and the acoustic area with the surreal female vocal literally dancing over the music like a short and subtle rainstorm that’s over as quickly as it came in, making this my pick for the best track on the album.    

For a band that harbors no German descent and manages to effectively capture the Germanic language so sweetly on Weltenende it’s a shame that it just doesn’t follow the instinctive path set with relative ease and follows the common, more lackadaisical road into oblivious simplicity. This band could hold a lot more weight if the blueprints were tossed out the window and a more instinctive sojourn was the chosen causeway.

Maybe next time.