Winds - Reflections Of The I

Year of Release: 2002
Label: The End Records
Catalog Number: TE025
Format: CD
Total Time: 60:32:00

As dusk slowly engulfs the scarce strands of light intrusively penetrating through the stained glass windows, a meditative silence takes hold of the large chamber. The echoes of distant and dying voices tremble timidly across the emptiness, shy of the realizations and spiritual discoveries taking place. Soon nothing is left but the mind alone in its reflection and renewed search of meaning. Yet only melancholy answers, consuming and dramatic in its stark presence.

Calling upon the intimate beauty of dark sadness and then the monumental dimensions of the same, Winds evokes such reflections with unnervingly delicate skill through the flowing compositions of keyboardist Andy Winter. Boasting two members of Arcturus, a band that with its recent demise will surely initiate a tragic mourning period for its loyal collection of fans, this Norwegian act has embraced a path similar to that of the mourned, and with its organic and often elegant combination of chamber instruments and metallic focus may very well bring comfort to the bereaved soon. Upon close inspection, however, one can also notice that any initial impressions of sameness are but a veil of deception woven by Carl August Tidemann's unmistakable guitar style, and that this band will still comfort the mourning adequately, but never by any means other than by its very own quintessence.

A quintessence that nevertheless is strongly akin to that of Arcturus, and thus one that is more than just slightly theatrical in its reach and ambition and overwhelming in its somber melancholy. With a marked shade of minor key classical music of the Romantic period that should not be confused for anything more than the mere influence that it is, Winds takes the listener through a series of songs created out of the same elements and mid-tempo gloom, with Lars Eric Si's clean and deeply rumbling vocals giving them the pretentious seriousness of a romanticized vampire. Not that Reflections Of The I is even remotely related to tales of such creatures, but the resulting musical nature is nevertheless quite similar and could well befit the musky corridors of an abandoned castle long forgotten.

Indeed, the nature of the music contained herein, whether seen in the ominous workings of Tidemann or the ghostly presence of stringed instruments, is as if crafted specifically for those enamored with dark loneliness and the woe resulting thereof. Reflections Of The I seems a fragment of such temperament, and the lack of movement that becomes apparent after a while would doubtlessly fray the nerves of many a listener foreign to such, while irremediably absorbing those familiar with it. If a legionnaire of the latter, this is a record that will penetrate the very tendrils of your essence and leave them in prostrated adoration for months to come, healing the sensitive wound that the death of Arcturus may have inflicted upon you, and helping you sink into the melancholic forgetfulness and darkened sleep that you have sought for ages. Otherwise, the music of Winds is sure to awaken moments of vivid interest as you listen to the album, but will ultimately leave you unfulfilled as you realize that the reflection has but one dimension, and one that is too constrained at that.

Similar artists: Arcturus

Tracklisting:
Clarity (2:15) / Realization (4:54) / Of Divine Nature (4:38) / Transition (1:18) / Passion's Quest (4:51) / Reason's Desire (5:13) / Premonition (2:01) / Remnants Of Beauty (5:40) / Existence (3:50) / Continuance (3:11) / Predominance (1:08) / Bonus Tracks: Inception Perspective (1:29) / In All Reflections (4:23) / Bloodstained And Sworn (5:49) / Mirrored In Time (5:01) / An Eternity Of Dreams (4:51)

Musicians:
Lars Eric Si - vocals, bass
Jan Axel von Blomberg - drums
Andy Winter - keyboards
Carl August Tidemann - guitars

Guest musicians:

Drajevolitch - voice
Vegard Johnsen - violin
Stig Ove Ore - viola
Hans Josef Groh - cello

Discography:
Of Entity And Mind (EP) (2000)
Reflections Of The I (2002/2005)
The Imaginary Direction Of Time (2004/2005)
Prominence And Demise (2007)

Genre: Dark-Doom Metal

Origin NO

Added: June 2nd 2002
Reviewer: Marcelo Silveyra
Score:
Artist website: www.winds.ws
Hits: 2139
Language: english