Review Summary: Ensigns of victory
So, let’s start of with the fact that your reviewer of today is quite the black metal normie. He loves his dissonance, atmosphere and aggression, but is not a fan of the first outings of the genre known for their production value or lack thereof.
So with that context, the rating might seem clear. But I actually really enjoy the raw production of this release. Of course it is not as barebone, cold, and bleak as the pioneers of the genre, it actually sounds warm and full. The issues I have lie more in the performance, which I suppose is also an odd gripe to have with black metal records.
The drums specifically are far from tight on this release and rub me the wrong way. On the end of ‘Forging the Iron of England’ however, they are quite charming due to the already chaotic nature of the pattern. On the title track following it though, the ride bell hits seem completely off time. It is as if the drummer was trying to play a simple pattern he just could not get tight, but decided to record it anyway. Sometimes on the double kick and fills a hit gets lost, but that is something I actually like was kept the record. The vocalist sometimes seemingly running out of breath and being inconsistent in volume is something, I think, should have been fixed before release though.
Another gripe is that, to me, the songs lack the engaging aspect I know from this band. The riffs feel basic most of the time, with little to no spice to them. I suppose that they didn’t have spices in England in the 10th century, but also were there no electric guitars… For a genre where the riff is repeated for several minutes, this obviously causes an issue.
On this same record however, the band shows how it should be done. Defending the Realm is a clear highlight for me. An almost cheerful folky melody put into a black metal track. Lovely bass notes, relatively laid-back drumming, tremolo picking, some screaming in the distance… What more could one wish from an atmospheric black metal song?
Guardian of the Herd is a fun Saor-like interlude, with the folk turned up to 11. The now-famous choir singing and acoustic noodling are shown in full glory, and of course have their place on other parts of this record as well, most notably on ‘The March to…’ and ‘…Battle of Maldon (991 AD)’. There it is overcrowded by the unappealing riffage mentioned earlier, and this sadly does not really change during the runtime of
The Ghost of Heritage.
I can fully understand people not having issues with this record. The main issue to me is the band itself, but not necessarily due to the performance or mildly interesting songs... The debut just absolutely pales in comparison to later releases by Winterfylleth! Track one alone, of follow-up
The Mercian Sphere, blows this record out of the water, and that was only record two...
What a sign of things to come…!
