WINDS

The round sticker on the album cover proudly announces the guest participation of "the great Hellhammer and the genius Dan Swano." And while I only found the latter in the list of studio personnel and backing vocalists, the former performed all the drum parts and is in fact a full-time member of the band. That said, I think that for musical material of this quality and beauty, the presence of legends is not particularly important. I'm sure the listener can judge for themselves what is good and what is not. Stylistically, the album's material falls under progressive metal -- with that signature Scandinavian touch, well familiar to us from Green Carnation or Nightingale, a touch of light and tender melancholy. This is progressive metal where excessive intellectual complexity is not placed at the forefront, and the elegance of the sound is not sacrificed to it. On the contrary, modest yet truly refined sophistication is the main component of the music, while instrumental intricacy serves as its graceful setting. Despite occasional reminiscences of the aforementioned style giants, the Norwegians never stoop to mere copying, and they are good precisely in their own way and beautiful in their own beauty. Sometimes they lean almost toward neoclassical, sometimes they play what is practically jazz, sometimes they are tender and melancholic, and other times they are driving and stern. Perhaps fans of musical heaviness will find them overly delicate, complex, and insufficiently brutal, but highbrow connoisseurs of non-trivial musical structures will certainly find something to delight their discerning ears.