“Winterlong” was born in Sweden around 2001 (their first album “Valley of the Lost” was produced by Lars Eric Mattsson !) and “Metal/Technology” is the fourth album of the band, in which guitarist Thorbjörn Englund (he’s the one who formed the band) plays everything himself, apart from most of the drums. This time, he’s also singing on all the songs, which was not the case for the others albums. Besides, Thorbjörn says that is has been produced and recorded in a very special way.
I can’t really compare “Metal/Technology”, which has a length of about 39 minutes, to the three former albums as I never heard them yet, but they were quite different from this one: they were more in the power and neo-classical metal style, while the new album has a very new, original and fresh sound, something you’ll probably have never heard before ! I was deeply impressed the first time I listened to it – especially because of the awesome and very well organized mix of metal sounds, which are very aggressive, heavy, even dark sometimes, they are of various styles – and as it’s a very complex album. This must have been a lot of work to produce !!! Impressive, really.
Every single song is special in its own way and I’m sure you never heard music like that. Moreover, it’s filled with amazing and killer solos and choruses.
I think the musical aspect I like the most from this album is the industrial/techno vibe that is added to the pieces. It really fits PERFECTLY and the good thing is that there are not TOO MANY, they’re just enough to make it special.
“The Hunter” is one of the best songs in my opinion. A very fast song, on which you can hardly catch your breath. Superb keys, too !
“And So We Remember” and “Like Ships In The Night”, my top favourites on the CD, completely take us by surprise with the presence of gothic / classical female vocals around the middle of the songs. This sweetens the pieces a little and I just love it. Here, Thorbjörn’s vocals are also my favourite ones.
“On A Demon’s Night” is an awesome instrumental piece, which starts a bit in a progressive way to then, take a lot of speed (almost in a melodic and neo-classical way) and to end up with sweet keys. The guitar solo is just excellent, just as the drums !
I personally prefer the musical side than the vocals on this album, but for sure, everything together form a perfect “whole”. It would never be the same without Englund’s vocals and again, this adds quite a special effect. They fit perfectly with the music.
I would strongly suggest you to listen to that brilliant album !!
“Metal/Technology” is certainly one of the most original CDs of the year and I’d rate it 9/10. It was a real fun to discover Winterlong’s music !
Reviewed by Vikie Martel on June 15th, 2006
