God bless Lee Dorian. His Rise Above Records is bringing us some very cool Doom oriented Metal these days. Winters play a Cathedral-esque, rough-around-the-edges sort of Doom Metal with a healthy dose of Indie Rock. In other words, it’s heavy on the roots of Doom while having some body part (or parts) firmly entrenched in the here & now.
The tones on this record are raw and abrasive. Everything sounds big and live. This does nothing but add to the heavy vibe on the album. Doomy atmospheres ooze & crawl out of the speakers when these guys start riffing. Vocally, there is where the Indie Rock feel comes in. Paul Fyfe has an understated, very English delivery akin to Radiohead or even Pedro The Lion…or, if you will, imagine Elliot Smith dropping some guest vocals from beyond the grave on a St. Vitus record. That may sound (more than) a little out of place at first, but it actually gives the album a refreshing counter-vibe. Had Winters employed a gravelly-voiced screamer they would have run the risk of blending in a bit too much.
This is easily one of the best Doom related releases of 2007 for me. It may even find a spot in my (as well as others) Top Ten List by year’s end. Not enough can be said about how cool & fresh Winters is. I have bore witness to a future legend in the genre, and it is good.
