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The Winter Wake is third full-length album by Italian Folk/Power Metal band Elvenking. The release, which came out in 2006, sees the return of original vocalist Damnagoras, replacing Kleid who sang on the previous offering Wyrd. The band is also cut down to a five piece again with the departure of guitarist/growler Jarpen, although he makes a guest appearance on the album, performing a guitar solo on the album’s title track, which also features guest vocals from Destruction’s Schmier.
Facing facts here, Kleid was technically the better of the two singers who have fronted Elvenking; however he lacked Damnagoras’ passion for the music’s delivery. So now that Damnagoras is back fronting the band, it was my hope that The Winter Wake would be a return to the sort of sound heard on the band’s debut album Heathenreel.
That is not quite to be with the album though. Damnagoras hasn’t improved as a vocalist in the time he was away from the band. That wouldn’t have mattered as it did not matter on Heathenreel, had the songs been of the same level of quality heard on the first two albums. There’s certainly a few gems among them such as Swallowtail, The Wanderer, Rouse Your Dream, and Neverending Nights, but as a whole the songs fall short of greatness and the delivery just still lacks the impact of Heathenreel. Despite Jarpen’s leaving there are still some harsh vocals present, but these are generally poor. Also on the vocal front with a band of this nature the presence of Schmier’s vocals are just out of place and don’t fit with the music very well, and as far as I’m concerned spoils the otherwise good title track.
Musically the music remains folksy and with many decent power metal riffs fuelling the band’s metal side. That really special spark though is absent, but fortunately The Winter Wake contains enough great tracks to save it from being an average release, but like Wyrd before it is another diminishing return from Elvenking. It’s certainly a solid enough album though, and there are certainly both better and worse Elvenking releases out there. The album is still a fairly positive experience, and is leagues ahead of much other folk metal.
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 7.8/10)