How Like a Winter "...Beyond My Grey Wake" CD
[Martyr]
This Italian band consists of three men and three women and plays what I supposed I would call melodic, atmospheric doom metal with gothic overtones. I think it's totally lame that the band members' "names" are Dust, Agony, Tragedy, Misery, Bane, and Mist. I don't know how they can take themselves so seriously using "names" like that. But whatever. This is actually a solid disc full of an hour's worth of My Dying Bride-esque material that combines plodding guitars with synths and violin, mixing growling vocals with great female singing, spoken passages, etc. But make no mistake, as this is far from a My Dying Bride "worship" situation, that's just a loose point of reference. I would honestly state that How Like a Winter is a bit more diverse overall, and thematically not quite as consistently bleak as My Dying Bride or other such acts. Most every song runs more than seven minutes, but their writing covers enough ground to keep it interesting and they manage to keep it together without pasting riffs together or anything. But "All the Seasons of Madness" for instance is faster and almost more "upbeat" at times, in that the vocal harmonies are catchy and the riffing is more melodic and memorable... though the faster tempos definitely play a large role. At 10+ minutes "Bescreen'd" is an epic and covers all sorts of tempo changes and atmospheric shifts, from classic doom to slightly more progressive and lush calm passages... very nice. And the same could be said of the nearly as long "The Night, Then Him", which offers some superb acoustic passages accompanied by whispered vocals and subtle violin playing. The recording isn't bad, though it needs minor improvements. I think the drums are programmed, which annoys me and detracts from the warmth of their sound a lot, but other than that I like most of it. The guitars are heavy, the mix is fairly even, the vocals sound great, as do the synths and the violin - all of which is actually used very tactfully. The acoustic guitars sound especially amazing, they're a bit warmer and brighter than anything else. If the distorted guitars had that same sort of feel they'd be intense. More bass guitar would help a ton, but the guitar tone would need to be adjusted so as not to make things muddy. The layout's alright. It looks appropriate and for the most part I like it I guess. It's just nothing special. And I'm not down with the lyrics at all, I don't know, I just can't get into the sappy, darkly "romantic" stuff or whatever. "In night I come to you, for there were born our kisses, And pleasures breathe so far from the sun, Envious by the grace that shines in light of yours, A sweet damnation fell on my breath, Since then I can't but look for you, Wearing a mask of night, for there were born our dreams..." This is actually better than I was expecting it to be. There are a few lulls in the record that slow the flow a tad and cause the listen to feel a bit heavy on the running time, but I would recommend this to fans of the genre as not only have I been taken by surprise, but this is one of the better releases of this style that I've heard lately. (7/10)
Running time - 59:28, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: All the Seasons of Madness, Bescreen'd, The Night, Then Him]
Martyr Music Group - http://www.martyrmusicgroup.com

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