It’s not uncommon for a black metal, heritage metal, act to conserve their energy for an acoustic passage or two and neither is it unheard of for a group of fervent metal musicians to want to prove themselves in ways other than trying to whittle their strings into the highest gauge with a plectrum. The latest album from Mancunian legends Winterfylleth is an organic compound within an artificial void, an ode to folk and a graven image of eugenics, like a ghost it’s a reflection of a natural occurrence.
The Hallowing Of Heirdom as a title reads like it belongs in the bibliography of one Jakey Rolling. Yet on play it sounds like the imaginary Anathema album produced by Ulvers’ Trickster G. that Alcest based their career on. It doesn’t come as a surprise really. As on their previous release The Dark Hereafter the band did leave it on an allusion to their intended path with a cover of Ulvers’ Troldskog Faren Vild from the album before the nylon score to a Norwegian night Kvledssanger.
Allusion being the key word. Winterfylleths’ latest album is a pretty blend of temperate strings, crop cutting choruses and nylon birdsong. Its often sombre verses weave tales of trials gone by with layered vocals and medieval instruments. It’s an entrancing Nu-pagan album that sounds like it could be the long lost masterpiece of the merry minstrel Alan-A-Dale.
Ten years after their blistering introduction in The Ghost Of Heritage, the debut album from Winterfylleth, the British quintet are exploring new territory within the scope of heritage black metal. It may not be what’s expected of the die-hard Mancunians’ but they’ve nailed what they’ve set out to achieve and The Hallowing Of Heirdom is an eloquent composition that uses musical expression in a far more interesting context than doing a stress test on a fret board.
8/10
