Band:	Winds
Album:	The Imaginary Direction Of Time
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Progressive metal, Symphonic metal
Release date:	April 27, 2004
A review by:	Dream Taster

01. What Is Beauty?
02. Sounds Like Desolation
03. Theory Of Relativity
04. Visions Of Perfection
05. The Fireworks Of Genesis
06. Under The Stars
07. A Moment For Reflection
08. Time Without End
09. The Final End
10. Beyond Fate
11. Silence In Despair
12. Infinity

After a breakthrough with their first album, 2002's "Reflections Of The I", the Winds are blowing again their unique music with their second full-length album, "The Imaginary Direction Of Time". This Norwegian band was founded by Andy Winter, a talented piano guru, who came up with the music, the lyrics and the concept of their first release, the MCD "Of Entity And Mind" and is still the mastermind behind Winds. Andy managed to gather some of Norway's finest musicians and also to keep them together to form a serious band. Lars Eric Si [vocals & bass, ex-Khold] is an amazing melodic singer whose talents also include being a gifted bass player and being able to arrange music, which he did with the string ensemble on this album. Carl August Tidemann [guitars, also Arcturus] is considered as the Norwegian Yngwie Malmsteen, and it's a reputation that doesn't even give him justice. His style is so crystal clear that it sounds like he's playing a violin instead of a guitar. Finally, who better than Jan Axel von Blomberg, also known under the moniker Hellhammer, to handle the drumming? This guy is so famous that the number of bands with which he played would fit pages and pages. He's well-known for his work with Mayhem, Arcturus and The Kovenant, to name a few. Add a string quartet composed by two violins, one viola and one cello and let Andy Winter compose a masterpiece, and you'll get close to the spirit.

First thing first, despite the presence of Black Metal experts in the band, Winds has nothing to do with Black Metal. It's somewhere at the crossroad of classical music and progressive metal. The uniqueness of Winds' music comes essentially from the fact that it doesn't sound like a bunch of metalheads filling spaces with choirs or alternating Wagnerian melodies with Thrash metal riffs. It's a smooth cocktail of precise Progressive metal and soft classical melodies. Which is why, while listening to "The Imaginary Direction Of Time" for the first time is like discovering a new musical world, comparable to discovering classical music for the first time.

If you break down the music to each musician's part, you'll be amazed by how perfect this sounds. Lars Eric Si's voice is incredibly emotional, and he does a terrific job throughout the whole album. Carl August Tidemann's style is unique and it fits so well into the concept that Andy Winter is probably the happiest compositor on earth right now. Jan Axel von Blomberg's drumming is surprisingly not fast nor powerful but it is clean and diabolically exact. That allows to create a strong drumming section without ruining the melodies emerging from both the strings and the guitar lines. As for Andy Winter himself, needless to say, the keys are so flawless and the piano so poignant, it's almost surreal.

The lyrics are clever, the artwork is gorgeous [it looks like Travis Smith has once again designed something out of this universe], the concept is bright? The result is obvious, second album, second masterpiece. It is painful to isolate a particular track from "The Imaginary Direction Of Time" as they all appear to be magnificent, however, 'The Firework Of Genesis' seriously caught my attention since the first listen. After that, all I can say is prepare yourself for a stunning experience with this album, it's an intense and memorable one. There is a track called 'Visions Of Perfection' on this record, and its title resumes well what the album is all about.