adg211288 It's a rare album review where I can still remember certain comments I made about it years after the fact, but that's the case for me with the previous album of Israel's Winterhorde, Maestro (2016). I remember the spiel of excitement I formed my review's introduction around, talking about how getting certain albums in my inbox from labels or promoters would lead to that album being given absolute priority to. Maestro was one such album and naturally Neptunian (2023), generated the same excitement. Make no mistake about Winterhorde: these guys are damn good. I also remember how I ended that review though, lamenting how it had been six years since Underwatermoon (2010) and hoping that it wouldn't take another six years before we heard a follow-up. Turns out it's taken seven. I guess some bands just aren't going to be as productive as others and as they have been releasing albums of such a high standard, it was okay.

It was okay...until Neptunian.

As I listened to the album for the first time, I felt my excitement gradually fading, replaced by shock, confusion and horror. What had happened to the band that made those amazing earlier albums? What had made them deliver THIS as their long awaited fourth studio album?

(Sighs deeply, trying to regain composure)

Okay, so Neptunian isn't a bad sounding release per se. But it's an extremely underwhelming one that seems to contain none of the kind of special character I've come to expect from Winterhorde's compositions that made particularly the Underwatermoon and Maestro albums such a joy to listen to. The progressive flair that defined those albums seemed watered down to the point of being swallowed by the ocean's tides, leaving a melodic/symphonic black metal album behind that, while far from terrible, just isn't that exciting to listen to.

If this album were from a new band releasing their debut and I heard it they might pass me by with a few lukewarm comments about potential, but this is a new album from Winterhorde. They're a band which had previously figuratively put my jaw firmly on the floor with their progressive take on melodic black metal. Twice. The expectations for such a band are higher, as is the standard I hold them to, which also makes the disappointment in this case so much worse. Coupled with the waiting time factor of seven years, this makes Neptunian one of those things that does not seem worth it no matter what angle I try to look at it from.

And my word I hate saying that about this band, I really do. I bloody love these guys. I meant what I said in my opener to this review that they are damn good. I own all three of their prior albums and while I don't give as much playtime to their debut Nebula (2006), both Underwatermoon and Maestro get spun regularly. Unfortunately Neptunian just doesn't hold a candle to them, despite repeated spins in hope that it's one of those albums that may not wow at first but improves with familiarity.

Sadly it was not.

Warthur Underwatermoon is Winterhorde's second album, with the Israeli outfit delivering another generous helping of melodic black metal with significant symphonic touches. In principle it's a concept album, though looking over the lyrics I can't figure out the story beyond that it involves ghosts and the ocean - still, the magnificent, big sound they have here is entertaining enough and makes the album a decent dry run for the rather excellent Maestro, the followup, which I personally found a bit more emotionally engaging than this one. Perhaps I'd rate this one a little higher if I hadn't already heard the masterwork that came after it.

Warthur A magnificent melodic black metal concept album with ample symphonic touches. Israel's Winterhorde offer to you Maestro, the tale of a Prague classical musician who finds himself coming under the sway of dark forces. Is this a Black Swan-esque crumbling under the pressures and stresses of performance, or does Satan himself really want the maestro for his unholy orchestra? Either way, the stage is set for a truly infernal conclusion.

To deliver the story Winterhorde fall back on an array of guest musicians, and I especially want to pick out Yulia Stoller's violin contributions for praise, since they really do the trick of providing this fragile, beautiful island of calm in the midst of all this chaos, much like the maestro's music is his escape when all around him is falling apart. But, much like an orchestra, the whole thing is a team effort, and Team Winterhorde certainly put themselves on the black metal leaderboard with this one.

666sharon666 Likely owing to the amount of line-up changes they've had since the release of their second album Underwatermoon in 2010, Israeli progressive black metal act Winterhorde have certainly made their fans wait for the release of their third album. Entitled Maestro, it was finally released in 2016. It's been out a while now, and it's been clear to me for some time that the wait was definitely worth it, as I love this album. But the more I listen to it I can't help wonder if this won't end up, in hindsight, feeling like a transitional album for the band.

This is still a black metal album, melodic/symphonic black metal specifically, but it sounds to me like Winterhorde are taking steps toward leaving black metal behind in comparison to Underwatermoon. The changing sound of the band is even more evident if you listen to their first album Nebula and Maestro back to back and skip Underwatermoon. This album may bring back Nebula's vocalist Zed “Z. Winter” Destructive to the fold after being replaced by Horeph for Underwatermoon (Horeph still guests on Maestro's title track though) but they've also decided to bring in a second vocalist, Igor "Khazar" Kungurow, to sing clean vocals, probably because Horeph used both cleans and growls, which makes it a very different release to Nebula. While Zed certainly doesn't hold back from using his growls on any of the songs here and the vocals are more or less evenly shared (with a few guests showing up here and there), the album does feel as if it's Zed supporting Igor, who shows himself the surprise star of the album. In extreme metal artists mixing growls and cleans isn't unheard of but the clean singing usually plays second fiddle to the growling and that's not my impression of this album. That the music is also very polished for black metal only furthers my belief that in time, perhaps even on their next album, they'll have left black metal behind and fully embraced a progressive metal sound.

Of course I might be completely wrong about that, but I can only write about my own experience with the album and to be based on how this sounds it seems likely. But whether I'm right or wrong the one thing I'm definitely sure if is that Winterhorde is a class act who've produced another excellent release. It's excellent from start to finish, but the key tracks for me are Worms of Soul, where the band add the distinctive sound of a theremin to their music, the 11:30 long epic The Heart of Coryphee and the brilliant closing track Dancing in Flames.

adg211288 Before I get into this review proper I want to explain something to provide a little bit of context: As a reviewer I get a lot of promos from many different sources. Some are from labels. Some are from the artist themselves and some are from promoters who deal with many of both of the above. But regardless of that when you're a solo reviewer as I am, it's unfortunately impossible to review every album sent out, so promos tend to get lumped into one of two groups; the group that looks interesting and gets downloaded and the group that doesn't, and so in turn doesn't get downloaded. However there is a rare third category of promo. The kind that when it arrives invokes an involuntary cry of 'hell yeah!', 'fuck yes!' or similar and not only immediately gets downloaded but also immediately gets listened to, regardless of any plans previously made, including the reviewing of other albums. They do not come along very often. Maestro (2016), the third full-length album by Israel's Winterhorde, is one of these albums.

Let's rewind a few years. It's 2010 and Winterhode have recently released their second album Underwatermoon. A member of the website I used to run back then has just introduced the rest of us to them and the band blew pretty much all of our regulars away. Fast forward back to 2016 though and we find ourselves finally coming to the end of the long wait for Underwatermoon's follow-up, Maestro. A lot has changed within Winterhorde in the six years since the last album, with only two members carrying over between albums, though Maestro does in fact see the return of the band's original vocalist Z. Winter who had been replaced by Horeph on Underwatermoon. Winterhorde have opted to expand their line-up with a second vocalist, Ig Kun, on Maestro though, providing clean vocals against Z. Winter's growls. It's not a shock move as Underwatermoon used a lot of cleans and on Z. Winter's previous outing with Winterhorde, Nebula (2006) they were a much more pure black metal band, something they transcended with Underwatermoon and continue to do with Maestro. There are also some guest female vocals on the album.

Where Underwatermoon was quite a leap forward from the more textbook like Nebula, Maestro feels more like a logical continuation of the progressive black metal sound that Winterhorde made their own previously. While the feel is a little different to Underwatermoon, it's clearly the work of the same band, showing that even with so many changes in line-up that the same musical vision is still intact. Winterhorde is drifting between the melodic and symphonic black metal standards across the album, but it's their use of other elements that really adds their edge, most notably of course their progressive way of writing but also their extensive use of clean vocals and also some less common instruments such as saxophone and theremin. Ig Kun's voice in particular changes the album's sound to that of Underwatermoon a lot as the clean singing on that album had this mournful, sorrowful kind of sound to them which worked well in context of that particular album, but did always come across as me as being a very acquired taste. The clean singing on Maestro however is much more accessible. Ig Kun has this soaring kind of voice that reminds me of when ICS Vortex was in Dimmu Borgir, except used in a more equal measure with the growling vocalist. Not that Dimmu Borgir is an otherwise valid reference when describing Winterhorde. This is many levels above anything I've heard Dimmu Borgir produce.

While Maestro can't replicate that initial wow factor that Underwatermoon gave me, it's still an extremely satisfying album, especially after the long wait between albums. Maestro, unfortunately, seems to have been one of those releases that was delayed quite a few times before finally getting here: I first heard that this album was on its way in 2013, slated for a 2014 release and it's now 2016. Some waits are very much worth it though, and this was definitely one of them. Winterhorde's writing remains as strong as ever, with standouts including the epic title track, Chronic Death and longest song The Heart of Coryphee. In fact it's so good that every time I've listened to it so far I've immediately gone back to the start and listened to it a second time. It's the sort of album that just commands an instant replay because even with a running time of over an hour Maestro just leaves me wanting more. Hopefully Winterhorde doesn't leave it quite so long next time, though with that said if they continue to produce albums as good as Maestro then any wait is worth it.