Band:	Winter
Album:	Into Darkness
Style:	Death doom metal
Release date:	1990
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Oppression Freedom / Oppression (Reprise)
02. Servants Of The Warsmen
03. Goden
04. Power And Might
05. Destiny
06. Eternal Frost
07. Into Darkness

Winter, one of the first bands, along with Paradise Lost, that harmonized beautifully together doom and death metal elements back in the ending of the 80s/birth of the 90s. And all I can say is that they did it in the most appropriate and original way, a way that many followed, yet, they, sadly, chose to disband after a not so long course, remaining a cult and respectable act in the scene.

Concerning the name of the band, I, personally, can't think of another one fitting more the music and the lyrical part of this legendary primary doom/death metal band simply because both their music and their lyrics evoke an intense ominous atmosphere, a feeling only winter as a season can evoke, when everything is dying? To be more specific, their overall existence brings forth apocalyptic images of a nuclear winter when mankind is crumbling and dying. Taking into consideration the lyrical part of the band, which deals with all this catastrophe us, "humans", have caused and keep on causing to nature and ourselves as well, and the musical part, which is powerful yet downtrodden and dissonant (also, let's not forget the cover of "Into Darkness" with the gloomy and death-like oriented aesthetic of humans wandering in the ruins), Winter has to be the most appropriate name for this American act.

And let's move to "Into Darkness", bearing as a cover that "beautiful" and "expressive" art us, "humans", created. It's their second release, after their demo "Winter" (or "Hour Of Doom"), their first, and only, official full-length though (a mini-CD followed). Their music is orgasmic when the time comes to talk about its powerful and imposing feeling, thanks to their dynamic rhythm section with the drumming, to be more specific, sounding really bombastic, lending a special feeling to the hopeless touch of Winter's overall atmosphere. The guitars are down-tuned, offering slow and mourning lurking riffing. A great plus, concerning the guitar work, is the fact that the band deals successfully with guitar FX that float in the air like tormented cries from beyond.

What is really important is the factor "groove" and Winter definitely have this groove that bands like Obituary adopted from Celtic Frost and it is really obvious in their more upbeat moments when the music becomes more death metal oriented. Even the vocals have a Celtic Frost touch, it seems, in a way, as if a grunting Tomas Gabriel Warrior was interpreting and it's not bad at all! Deep grunts are the vocals that adorn the musical journey of this band and they give life to their hopeless lyrics in the most appropriate way, evoking a cold and oppressive touch in the air.

What begins with the experimental instrumental "Oppression Freedom Opression" and flows through darkness, loss of hope, death, destruction and desperation through "Servants Of The Warsmen", "Goden", "Power And Might", "Destiny" and "Eternal Frost" ends with the brilliant and powerful "Into Darkness". A must-have release for all the doom/death metal adorers around, to see how it all started from a band that, despite the fact they disbanded so early, left enough material so as to be remembered as a great influence for what we call doom/death metal.