Winterage – The Inheritance of Beauty Review

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We are so used to have female vocals on Symphonic/Folk Metal bands that when we run into one with male vocals we find it a little strange. Well, in fact to be fair enough with the band, in “The Inheritance of Beauty” there are all kinds of male and female voices, however the male is the lead.  Winterage really knew how to make use of so many vocal techniques and ranges in the album to deliver us a vocal pearl. Yeah, really. The thing that calls the attention in it are the vocals and all the features delivered. The term opera Metal here fits very well because besides the vocals the band presents lots of violins and other instruments that fit so well in the outcome. Of course, we are perfectly aware that the mix between opera features and Metal isn’t really new, but, as we always say here, it doesn’t matter what one uses, but how one uses. That makes a lot of difference in an album.

Some may call it clichè, but the operatic female voice in the beginning of “La Morte di Venere” gives a different spark to the tune after all the male vocals. Personally it’s not really what turns me on in terms of music, however I can recognize a great piece when I see one. Therefore, the tone of the album is the folk elements that Winterage added to it. They really make the difference and make the band stand out from the crowd which is the desired thing. There are times that the band sounds a lot like as Rhapsody – or better yet Rhapsody of Fire – as in “Oblivion Day” where violins take the lead and show the way. The impression gets stronger with the following “The Amazing Toymaker” whose intro speech as if telling a story take the lead. The seventeen minute theme takes various ways from the Power Metal act to the opera. The song is very complex in all its moods and atmospheres. Sometimes  it goes very near an opera buffa with all the elements that mark one. The track is like a story in itself. Well, I guess that the main idea.

“The Inheritance of Beauty” isn’t an easy album for whom isn’t with the complexity of this kind of Metal music. For some it’s a gem. The kind of Metal music that attracts and allows all kinds of approaches.

Winterage “The Inheritance of Beauty” will be released on January 08th via Scarlet Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Ouverture
  2. The Inheritance of Beauty
  3. The Wisdom of Us
  4. Of Heroes and Wonders
  5. The Mutineers
  6. Orpheus and Eurydice
  7. Chain of Heaven
  8. La Morte di Venere
  9. Oblivion Day
  10. The Amazing Toymaker

Watch “Of Heroes and Wonders” official video here: