Band:	Gernotshagen
Album:	Wintermythen
Style:	Pagan black metal, Folk metal
Release date:	2002
A review by:	Jeff

01. Gernotshagen
02. Die letzten Krieger
03. Die Nacht Des Raben
04. Ergebender Nacht
05. Kriegshorn
06. Malum Infinitum
07. Winter
08. Herigest

It's really impressive to see how a band can change from one album to one other. "Wintermythen" was the first release of the German combo Gernotshagen and this is a classic Black Metal album which is really different of their second CD "Märe Aus Wäldernen Hallen". Sure "Wintermythen" has some Pagan influences but all in all this is really simple and finally not so interesting than "Märe Aus Wäldernen Hallen".

My main problem with a band like Gernotshagen comes from the sound of the keyboards. Here the instrument leads the music but its sound is so dull that it kills a bit the music. I mean, that it's really hard for a keyboard which really sounds electronic to be convincing when you know that the general music is Pagan Black Metal. I know that a lot of Pagan Black Metal bands uses this kind of settings on their keyboards but here this is simply too much and really repulsive. Though, the music of "Wintermythen" is not so inspired, I'm not saying that it's bad but we heard it all before and it clearly lacks of magical things. In the end some of you (like me) will have the feeling that the release is really too long and that they will just listen to a basic and not really inspired album. Ok, sometime the songs can be ok, after all we have Black Metal vocals, big blasts and good dark Folkish ambiances (even if the keyboards don't help a lot), but we don't have any real hits on this release and it's boring in the end.

The production is also a bit average. The sound is audible but not really well mixed and it can be hard to perfectly hear the singer. It's not the worst recording ever done but it's not really good and it's one other bad point which do that "Wintermythen" is just an average album.

"Wintermythen" is the perfect example of the album which will not do anything special to you. It's hard to say that it's terrible because it's not so bad but it's also really hard to find really positive points on the release. "Wintermythen" is a good representation of the average album, not good and not bad. If you really want to listen to Pagan Black Metal you can still have a look on this album but don't expect anything special.