DippoMagoo Two of my favorite releases over the past five years have been Wardens of the West Wind, an epic symphonic power metal album along the lines of Rhapsody of Fire, except somehow even catchier, more fun and all-around more enjoyable, and Stonehymn, a wildly entertaining power/folk metal release, with some symphonic arrangements. What do those two albums have in common? Well, both of them were made by Italian band Wind Rose, who showed promise with their progressive metal debut Shadows Over Lothadruin, before completely blowing the roof off with the two aforementioned albums. With the band impressing me so much on two consecutive albums, and largely doing so in different ways, I was excited to see what they would try next and whether their latest full-length release would live up to my expectations. Two years after the release of Stonehymn, the band has now unleashed their fourth album, Wintersaga, and unlike its two most recent predecessors, it feels less like evolution and more like a victory lap, but in a very enjoyable way.

Fans of Wind Rose, and especially those who enjoyed Stonehymn, should have a good idea of what to expect from Wintersaga, as it largely feels like a continuation of that album, while also having slightly more symphonic influence, to bring it a bit closer to Wardens of the West Wind, at times. I loved both of those albums, and so I greatly enjoy this release as well, but I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that it doesn’t push the band’s sound further, in the way those two albums did. Instead, it feels like the band took everything that worked previously, and built on it, to create a varied, extremely fun and catchy album, with a ton of memorable moments, though a lot those moments do feel a bit familiar.

For new fans, each of the band’s first three albums was remarkably different from each other, each containing elements of prog, power, symphonic and folk metal to varying degrees, but each release had its distinct feel, with the band evolving and showing different sides of their music on each new release. Shadows was a rather complex, long-winded prog album, while Wardens was a super fast-paced, catchy symphonic power metal release, and Stonehymn had a style that felt close to Ensiferium or early Turisas, except with more of a power metal foundation, and without the use of growls. Wintersaga largely picks up where that album left off, with the folk melodies and gang vocals being the most prominent elements, while most tracks are very fast-paced, with hard-hitting riffs and some excellent musicianship all around.

All tracks have huge choruses, where vocalist Francesco Cavalieri shines with his deep and powerful, yet very smooth voice, which can sometimes get a bit wild, but in an effective way that fits the music, while the gang vocals and choral elements are also quite epic and well done. Songwriting is rather varied, with some tracks being more power metal-based, while others are largely folk-infused, with hints of power metal, some blend the two together, and others incorporate symphonic elements, though that side of the band never fully takes over, the way it did on Wardens. With Stonehymn being a huge success for the band, (to the point where they were picked up by a major label) it makes sense that they would largely continue with that sound, and everything is performed as perfectly as on that album, performances are as energetic as ever, and while the album doesn’t quite have the freshness their previous two albums did, it’s still an excellent, consistently enjoyable release from start to finish.

While the material feels familiar, the songwriting is still very high quality, and there aren’t any less than excellent songs throughout. Following a nice intro, which splits pretty evenly between folk melodies and symphonic arrangements, the title track (as well as the third single released) kicks in, and it’s a very explosive track, that gets things off to an amazing start! It opens up slowly, with some nice folk melodies, and epic gang vocals, but the pace quickly picks up with some explosive blast beats, and from there the band goes into full speedy power metal territory, with hard-hitting, high energy verses and an extremely fun and catchy chorus, with some excellent choral vocals. It combines all aspects of the band wonderfully, mixing some symphonic arrangements in with the usual power/folk sound, and is a very fun opener. Next is second single “Drunken Dwarves”, a very folk-infused track, which feels like a tavern song sped up severely, and set to power metal. It’s extremely fun, very epic and incredibly addictive, with an awesome speedy pre-chorus section, before slowing down for a wonderful chorus, where Francesco showcases some of his smoothest vocals to date. It’s another instant winner, and one of my favorites on the album.

Before the release of the album, the band generated a ton of hype with lead single “Diggy Diggy Hole”. The track is based on a popular meme, dating back to February 2011, when Youtube channel Yogscast came up with the tune while playing Minecraft. Three years later, they turned it into an official song, and this past June Wind Rose released their cover of the track, which quickly went viral, with Yogscast acknowledging it near immediately. The video currently has over 6 million views on Youtube! Anyway, the song itself is certainly worthy of those crazy numbers, as it takes an already excellent song, turns it into an epic blend of folk/symphonic metal, with an increased of symphonic arrangements and folk melodies, as well as obviously incorporating some heavy riffs, and it essentially turns the track into one of the catchiest, most stupidly entertaining metal songs released in quite some time!

Following that is the rather similar track, “Mine Mine Mine!”, a fairly slow-paced track, alternating nicely between epic orchestral arrangements and folk melodies while having some excellent gang vocals, slow-paced bu enjoyable verses, and another awesome, sing-along chorus, which is incredibly catchy and epic. The band brings back the power metal elements on “The Art of War”, which alternates nicely between more mid-paced keyboard-driven sections, and an explosive, speedy chorus, which showcases the band’s power/folk sound perfectly. It’s another very fun, fairly straight-forward track, with some excellent folk melodies, some great riffs, and excellent vocals, as always.

The second half of the album is a lot more keyboard-driven, overall, and it brings back some of the band’s prog elements, which are especially noticeable on “There and Back Again”. The track alternates between some very soft, keyboard-driven, symphonic infused sections that bring early Symphony X to mind, and some explosive, heavier passages. It’s mostly a fairly slow-paced track, more focused on the melodic side of the band, and it has an excellent chorus, as well as some great, emotional vocals from Francesco. On the more fun side is “The King Under the Mountain”, which feels pretty similar to “The Breed of Durin” from Wardens. It’s a very fast-paced, wildly fun track with tons of epic gang vocals, folk melodies, some screams, and an extremely fast-paced, intense and insanely catchy chorus. It’s one of the fastest, heaviest tracks on the album, while still having a ton of folk elements, and it’s definitely one of the best here. Closing out the album is “We Were Warriors”, a track which alternates between some slower-paced, heavily folk-infused verses that have a very early Turisas feel to them, as well as some speedier, more intense sections, some softer, more keyboard-driven sections, and some extremely epic symphonic arrangements and choirs. It’s the longest track on the album, at over 9 minutes, and it feels like a suitably epic way to close things out.

Wind Rose caught me completely off guard with each of their last two releases, and while Wintersaga isn’t quite as immediately impressive as either of those, instead feeling more like a celebration of the band breaking through, it’s still a highly engaging, consistently entertaining release, which expertly blends together elements of power metal, folk, symphonic metal and some prog elements here and there. Longtime fans of the band should be very pleased, while anyone looking for some great power/folk metal, with some symphonic and prog elements are also highly recommended to give this a listen. I was hoping the band would evolve their sound further, but I certainly can’t complain about them deciding to settle down a bit, especially when they’ve managed to create another excellent album in the process!

originally written for myglobalmind.com:https://myglobalmind.com/2019/09/29/wind-rose-wintersaga-review/

DippoMagoo One of the most surprising albums for me in recent years was Wardens of the West Wind, the 2015 release from Italian power metal band Wind Rose. I had been intrigued by the band after their 2012 debut Shadows Over Lothadruin, which was an interesting prog album that showed potential, but also had a lot of things wrong with it that really brought it down. So while I was interested in Wardens of the West Wind when I got a promo for it, I was absolutely shocked, both by how much I loved it and by how all the flaws from the previous album were fixed and the band had shifted styles quite impressively, going with more of a symphonic power metal sound, while still keeping elements of their debut. After how good that release was, I was excited to hear what they would do next and expected them to continue along the same path, but now their third release Stonehymn is set to come out later this month, and I have to say, the band has surprised me in an awesome way once again!

Wind Rose is an interesting band, in that so far each release has taken a fairly minor element from the previous album and expanded upon it greatly, making it the primary focus. For example, Shadows Over Lothadruin was primarily a mix of symphonic metal and prog, somewhat similar to Symphony X, but it contained brief bursts of power metal, which ended up becoming the main focus on Wardens of the West Wind. Meanwhile, that album was primarily a symphonic power metal release in the vein of Rhapsody of Fire, but it contained folk elements on a couple tracks, most notably on its closing track “Rebel and Free”, and on Stonehymn, this sound has taken over and become the main focus.

I’d say the best comparison to this album would be if you were to take the faster, more epic sections of bands like Ensiferum and early Turisas, remove the growls and then make that into an entire album, then you’d end up with something similar to Stonehymn. Of course, Wind Rose have still kept their own sound intact here, so the symphonic elements from previous releases are still used at times, choirs are still used a ton, power metal riffs remain a driving force and even the prog elements from the debut are still there in bursts, but the overall sound feels very fresh and new, with much more of a folk element than past releases. There’s a ton of epic gang vocal sections, group chants and all kinds of folk instruments used throughout, with many instrumental sections that would usually give way to guitar solos on most albums instead turning into interludes where various folk melodies are played, and this adds quite a lot of flavor to the music. The metal elements are still as present as ever, though, with the guitars still playing a big part, and there are some great riffs here for sure, especially during some of the mid-paced sections where the prog elements come in, and there are some nice sections where keyboards take over as well, but I find the folk elements add an extra layer to the music and are certainly much more prominent and more effective than I would have ever expected.

Vocals remain a strong point for the band, and if anything I’d say lead singer Francesco Cavilieri sounds even more comfortable with this sound than he did on either of their first two releases. He has a very deep voice with just a bit of a wild edge to it that fits in perfectly with folk music, and he’s equally effective at reining it in a bit for softer sections or going full out for epic, heavier sections. There’s still some epic choir vocals as on the previous album, though I find on this album gang vocals play a much bigger part, with most choruses and other big vocal sections having a ton of supporting vocals from the other band members, and there’s lots of fun chanting style vocals as well, which bring a lot of energy and fit in great with the folk elements. It really does feel like the band fully committed themselves to the sound they wanted on this album and did everything they could think of to pull it off perfectly.

The songwriting on Stonehymn is interesting, in that it’s a rare case of me not being at all bothered by a lack of variety in the tracks. Honestly, most songs here do follow a formula, where they tend to start out quietly, with soft sections where the folk elements dominate, then the orchestral elements and metal instruments kick in the and the music speeds up, which tends to happen at the start of almost every track here. No songs stay slow throughout, and there are also no songs that are really speedy every second of the song either. Usually, this kind of approach to songwriting would bug me, but there are a few reasons why it doesn’t in this case. The first and most obvious is that the folk elements are used so effectively, even if the songs themselves are all similar, there are so many interesting sounds here and so many epic melodies, I find myself enjoying every second of every track. Secondly, the band plays with so much energy, especially during the faster sections, that I simply can’t help but love it. And lastly, every song on its own is just so well written, with the right mix of catchy choruses, epic vocal sections, fun verses, great folk and symphonic sections, and just a ton of great surprises, that the lack of variety in songwriting ends up not hurting it at all. There’s also a lot going on in each track, as well as tons of tempo changes, with most tracks seamlessly going from slow to fast or mid paced to fast pretty much out of nowhere, and the band pulls this off extremely well, so the songs all flow perfectly.

Because of the approach to songwriting, it’s hard to do a full song by song breakdown, but I can say every track is fantastic and they all have plenty of memorable sections. There’s two brief instrumentals here, the intro track “Distant Battlefields” and “The Animist”. The latter is a nice folk interlude, while the former has a nice mix of orchestral and folk elements, with its main melody being very memorable and returning throughout the first full track “Dance of Fire”. In fact, one early highlight is during the first verse of “Dance of Fire”, where after a fun speedy intro, it slows down and brings back the main melody of the intro track, except here Franceso sings and it makes the music feel all the more epic, Then after that, the track speeds up and continues switching tempos throughout, with many epic vocal sections and a huge chorus.

Tracks like “Under the Stone” and “Fallen Timbers” use the folk elements to enhance the music throughout, with the former in particular having an epic use of gang vocals and folk elements leading into its chorus, while has nice folk melodies in its intro, but they mostly move along at a very fast pace throughout, with power metal elements being dominant, only occasionally slowing down a bit for some more progressive sections. Both tracks are awesome, fluidly mixing elements of folk and power metal, with the latter in particular having possibly the best chorus of the album and being probably my favorite track on the album. Other tracks like “To Erebor” and “The Eyes of the Mountain” use more extended slower sections, with the latter in particular probably being the most symphonic track on the album, using big choir vocals during its chorus and the orchestras have a much bigger presence on that track, though folk elements are still there at times. Meanwhile, “To Erebor” is probably the most folk-infused track on the album, with everything from its intro to the epic chanting vocals of its chorus and the tribal-like sounds used at various points, all giving the track a strong folk feeling. One point early on even reminds me of a certain Turisas track from their second album, though this doesn’t last very long, and gives way to the epic chorus.

On the softer side, “Returning Race” is the longest track on the album and also one of the more interesting tracks. It uses acoustic elements effectively early on, with the music giving the feeling of a sort of a tavern song during its early sections, and it effectively mixes these sections with speedier sections, with the tempo changing throughout and there’s quite a lot going on. It’s definitely a track that showcases how well Francesco’s vocal fit in on a more folk-infused album, as he sounds amazing during the softer sections here. Also on the softer side, lead single “The Wolves’ Call” starts off slow and the whole track makes very good use of extended calmer sections to build up to brief explosive moments, with the chorus, in particular, starting out very calm and then speeding up and becoming more and more epic as it goes along. The final run through the chorus is stunning and one of the highlights of the album.

Wind Rose surprised me big time in 2015, and they have done it once again in 2017! Where Wardens of the West Wind showed a promising band fully living up to their potential and then going much further to fully blow me away, Stonehymn is in some ways even more impressive, as it shows the band willing to move a bit away from what worked so well previously, and into something new, but manages to pull it off just as impressively. Fans looking for another symphonic power metal release may be disappointed, but as someone who always enjoy hearing power metal and folk mixed together and has been sad to see this mix of genres not being used too often in recent years, this release is just as pleasantly surprising for me as the band’s previous release, and stands as one of my top two albums for the first half of 2017. Fans of power metal and folk metal are highly recommended to give this album a listen, as it pulls the two styles off brilliantly and is one of the best releases I’ve heard from either genre in the last few years.

originally written for myglobalmind.com: http://myglobalmind.com/2017/05/14/wind-rose-stonehymn-review/

DippoMagoo 2015 has barely even begun, and I already have a strong album of the year contender, from a very unexpected source. Italian band Wind Rose released their debut Shadows Over Lothadruin in 2012, and it was an interesting release. A conceptual album with fantasy themed lyrics along the lines of bands like Rhapsody of Fire or Ancient Bards, and yet musically the band played a brand of melodic prog, in the same vein as Symphony X, but with increased symphonic and folk influences. On the whole it was quite the unique album and represented a promising start, with potential for much greater things. It was obvious the band had the talent to go places, but the release was brought down slightly by inconsistent songwriting and an overabundance of interlude tracks. For their sophomore effort, Wardens of the West Wind, the band has ditched the conceptual approach, which has resulted in an album that’s all killer with absolutely zero filler.

In many ways this seems like a much different band than the one that released Shadows Over Lothadruin, even though their only new member is ex-Labyrinth bassist Cristiano Bertocchi. The prog leanings are still there in bursts, but on the whole this is largely a symphonic power metal album, with faster, heavier and more immediately gripping songs than their debut. At times the Symphony X influence still shines through, but for the most part this album is much more similar to bands like Rhapsody of Fire and Dragonland. While the musicianship was already strong on their debut, on this release it has improved quite dramatically, with everything sounding fantastic, from the explosive guitars and drums, to the epic keyboards and orchestrations, and even the folk instruments which appear on and off throughout many of the tracks.

The area where Wind Rose has improved the most, though, is in the songwriting department, and it starts with the lack of filler. This time around, there’s a very nice intro, as well as the ecellent folk interlude “The Slave and the Empire”, which serves as a very effective lead in for one massive barn burner of a song in “Spartacus”. Aside from those two brief instrumental tracks, the rest of the album features eight full length songs, and each one delivers instant satisfaction. The opener “Age of Conquest” is one I suspect will possibly be my most played song of 2015, when the year is over. From the opening choral section to the explosive first verse, the song comes storming out of the gate, and then the chorus hits for the first time, in all its glory, followed by a surprisingly heavy riff, and then the song turns into a progressive symphonic power metal epic that rivals the very best of them. One thing this track demonstrates is that even though this album has some unbelievably catchy choruses, the songwriting is quite advanced, as even a seemingly straight-forward song like this one goes through several transformations throughout, and it’s made all the more awesome for it. While this track has proven to be my favorite, the rest of the album certainly isn’t far behind.

Another area of improvement instantly showcased on “Age of Conquest” is the vocals. I liked Francesco Cavalieri on their debut, but on this album he sounds much stronger and more powerful than he did before. He has a gruff voice, but with the ability to put in some extra touch when in needed, somewhat similar to Russell Allen. The vocal melodies in general are simply spectacular, and he performs everything effortlessly, from the more aggressive vocals at the start of “The Breed of Durin”, to the more melodic vocals on tracks like “Heavenly Minds” and “Skull and Crossbones”, to the just plain epic vocals found throughout most of the album. Even more impressive are the choir vocals, which are at times operatic, but many times they sound more like big group chants. The harmonies are all performed flawlessly, and greatly enhance the music, standing out as one of my favorite features on an already amazing album.

As much as I love the opener, “The Breed of Durin” is almost as impressive, and is another song that explodes at the beginning, with an epic speedy opening verse that hooks the listener in instantly, and then takes it to the next level with another unforgettable chorus, and some pretty awesome surprises in the second half. Tracks like “Heavenly Minds”, “Ode to the West Wind” and “Born in the Cradle of Storms” are more progressive, and rely more on the keyboards and orchestrations. For the most part, these tracks are more subdued, but the melodies are simply fantastic, and they each have frequent tempo changes to liven things up. The latter two in particularly get more and more impressive as they go along. Rounding out the songs, we have two more instant winners: “Spartacus” has perhaps the most epic choral vocals on the album as well as some of the best orchestrations, while “Rebel and Free” has the strongest use of folk melodies, complete with Francesco sounding more like a folk singer on that one song, and doing an excellent job of it.

I have to admit: I never saw this one coming. I saw great potential in Wind Rose on their debut, but with Wardens of the West Wind they have upped their game to unexpected levels, all the while delivering an epic symphonic power metal album that quite frankly crushes anything offered up by other bands in the genre last year. I can’t give anything but the highest of recommendations to any fans of symphonic power metal or progressive power metal, as this album is simply fantastic, and I feel confident in saying it will be at least in my top 5 albums at the end of 2015.

(originally written for myglobalmind.com: http://myglobalmind.com/2015/01/09/wind-rose-wardens-of-the-west-wind-review/)

prog61 I state that I am a fan and a musician of progressive rock, in fact I wrote reviews on "Prog Archives" since many years; in general I like Metal a little less, but I find very interesting the progressive parts of some metal bands. I know WIND ROSE because they live in my town, Pisa (yes, the one with the tower!), and I must say, despite being them basically a power metal band, this band has a very strong progressive component. I have heard from a few days this their first album and I loved it! I already knew the 3 tracks of their “Demo 2010” (Majesty, Oath to betray and Led by light), which are reproduced in the album with new arrangements: these three songs are definitely attractive, powerful and melodic, very well played and with breaks in pure progressive mold. In particular, the central parts of "Majesty" and "Led by light" (which is very different from the Demo) are really exciting. The rest of the album, based on a fantasy story, told through interludes narrated, has two power style songs, such as "Endless prophecy" and "IV vanguard", which are very good and imaginative, and a song in folk style, "Siderion", absolutely exceptional and innovative: in some ways reminds me of "E’ festa-Celebration" by PFM, but with a charge and a very impressive pace, and I think that this "Siderion" may represent a workhorse of the band in concert! No one could miss in the album some quieter and more melodic songs: "Son of a thousand nights" is a beautiful and very passionate ballad, with many references to Symphony X and a final poignant; "Moon-tear sanctuary" is instead an acoustic song, almost in Jethro Tull style, with an atmosphere and a melodic taste truly impressive. Then there's the epic finale, "Close to the end", which contains all the features of this band: melody, imagination and power. In short, a great debut for this young band (they are all in their twenties); they certainly have some things to improve, especially in some vocal parts and some guitar solos, but despite this, “Shadows over Lothadruin” is one of the most beautiful albums of recent times in the field of metal and beyond. 9,5 / 10

adg211288 Shadows Over Loathadruin is the debut full-length album by Italian progressive metal act Wind Rose, following a 2010 demo release of which all the songs have been included on Shadows Over Loathadruin. The album was released in 2012 and is a fantasy themed concept album, following a story by the band’s guitarist Claudio Falconcini.

The music of Shadows Over Loathadruin is highly symphonic progressive metal, which also draws on power metal in smaller amounts and even more rarely folksy melodies performed within the symphonic context. To reinforce the concept of the album Wind Rose have opted to go for the narration approach throughout the release, which ultimately also give it some qualities of a spoken word album. Unfortunately I find the use of the narration to be something of a hindrance to my overall enjoyment of the release, however this is not the main reason that I find Shadows Over Loathadruin a letdown after the 2010 demo.

The reason I am speaking of is that the album lacks consistency to my ears. While I enjoy the tracks from the demo same as I did before, particularly Oath To Betray and Led By Light it’s only really Close To The End, the album’s final track, that stands up to them out of the new material presented on Shadows Over Loathadruin. The rest is not bad, but it is unable to stand out as well as the tracks I’ve mentioned so when those tracks hit the ears, the flaws within the bulk of the album become quickly apparent, although I do also enjoy to a lesser extent the occasionally folk based Siderion and the more power metal fuelled moments like The Fourth Vanguard. Coupled with the admittedly not constant but still overuses narration this all makes most of the album vary between poorly realised conceptual interludes (six tracks don’t even clock in at one minute) and tracks that seem uninspired to these ears. A shame, because when Wind Rose does something to take note of, they do something that is really great. In some ways they remind me a more progressive Kamelot. They have pretty good musicianship and vocals, but they need to do that little bit more in order to give the album lasting value.

The few really good songs push it into above average territory but otherwise Shadows Over Loathadruin hasn’t been a very satisfactory release for me, although it is not an unpleasant listen as such. There is potential here though so hopefully they will improve down the line but ultimately this is a step down from a decent demo.

6.3/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org) on 04/09/2012)