Winterthrone 
The Godslayer 

Self-Released 2011

I am not usually one for symphonic black metal, but occasionally a band comes along that does it right.  And so we have the third full-length album from Germany's Winterthrone.  Surprisingly the first song, Grave Of Thousand Souls opens with a blasting black metal onslaught that merely incorporates Gehenna-esque synth into the melee.  The vocals are demonic rasps and the drums hammer away.  The synth alternate between piano style tinkling to colder, majestic notes.  Cult Of Hate begins more traditionally with tortured moans and atmospheric synth with the guitars and drums slowly creeping in.  Then the song erupts into more hammering black metal.  One thing you will notice early on is that these songs are more guitar driven than a lot of symphonic bands.  Some quick sawing riffs slice along the songs arc before collapsing into pounding rhythms and a triumphant passage.  The pacing is near relentless with only short respites.  The track then veers into realms of catchy riffs and interesting leads.  Calmer periods rise and carry the song into oblivion.  A scathing, circular solo streams out of the speaker as Death And Blasphemy Unleashed gets rolling.  Dramatic tempos and keyboards paint the songs early soundscape with sinister emotions.  Later In The Silver Chamber crawls along and achieves a mystical state with crystalline guitars and astral synths. There is a melodic flow to the track as the guitars blaze a path across the night sky.  An aspect you will notice on this album is that the production is harsher than one might expect with this style, and for this I am glad to see they have shunned the glossy plastic sound so many have chosen before them.  One problem I do have with this album is the compositions are perhaps overly long.  This might work if the riffs were slightly more memorable but in the end it serves to temper the song's impact.  The Godslayer is symphonic black metal that actually is dark and exudes an evil atmosphere, but in the future I think it would serve Winterthrone well to shorten the tracks to add more punch to them.