Band:	Elvenking
Album:	The Winter Wake
Style:	Folk metal, Power metal
Release date:	January 27, 2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. Trow's Kind
02. Swallowtail
03. The Winter Wake [feat. Marcel Schirmer]
04. The Wanderer
05. March Of Fools
06. On The Morning Dew
07. Devil's Carriage
08. Rats Are Following
09. Rouse Your Dream
10. Neverending Nights
11. Disillusion's Reel
12. Penny Dreadful [Skyclad cover] [European bonus]
13. Petalstorm [Japanese bonus]
+ Studio Making Of Video Clip

"The Winter Wake" is the new album of the specialist of Folk Power Metal from Italy, Elvenking. Even if the band only started its career in 1999 "The Winter Wake" is already the 3rd release of the combo and I'm sure that the fans of their first albums will find something catchy here but even if some songs are pure hits, some others are a bit more average. At the end if "The Winter Wake" is a good album, it's also possible to find better Folk Metal releases.

If you don't know them yet, you must know that Elvenking is a mix of Italian Power (yes you know this really fast and epic music a la Rhapsody) and Folk Metal (to sum up, some catchy violins and (sometime) flutes a la Mago De Oz). The new album is not so bad and some songs like "Trow's Kind" or "The Wanderer" are really solid and potential hits. The melodies produced by the violin are really nice and super catchy, also the riffs are perfect and I don't have to talk a lot about the choruses. It's something great for the live without any doubt. On the other hand some other songs are a bit more irregular and, for me at least, a bit boring at the end. If "Trow's Kind" can give shivers "March Of Fools" or "Rouse Your Dream" at the opposite are ok but a bit messy and not so surprising. At the end it's weird because I have two feelings when I listen to this CD, sometime I think that we're in front of a really good album, some others times I have a bad feeling of déja-vu and actually I think that in my case it probably comes from the reminiscences of this fast (boring) trendy Power that comes from Italy (and Germany too btw).

The production is ok, at least the musicians are good and the return of Damnagoras with his pleasant voice isn't a bad thing, at the opposite. The sound however is not perfect and can be a bit messy sometime, too bad, but it's the principal risk when you play a music super fast and powerful.

Well if you're a fan of Elvenking or Folk in general don't miss their new release, same for the ones who like Power and don't mind melodies produced by a violin instead of a guitar. On the other hand if you want to discover Folk Metal, there is some better albums in my opinion. "The Winter Wake" is a cool release but it's not perfect and I have the feeling that Elvenking could be better but hey don't forget that they're still young and will probably release some other good releases in the future and with this release they prove however that we must count on them.