WINTERUS

One can appreciate the effort and the sense of adventure that some bands have taken in pushing black metal boundaries or at least testing the limits. However, embarking on a trip into murky, deep USBM waters on a moonless night without life jackets, flashlights, and an extra couple of oars is a very risky endeavor. That seafaring journey into darkness didn't end so well for WINTERUS on "In Carbon Mysticism", an album that tries to be old school and modern at once with disastrous results.

The short of it is that "In Carbon Mysticism" takes a standard black metal blueprint that relies on grimness, chills, and minor note harmonies and colors it with (not even sure how intentional this next part was) modern metal atmospherics and none of it works well at all. The parts aren't complementary and the fundamental black metal basis of the songs is typically bland and, even worse, disingenuous. Some of the songs are almost tolerable and occasionally the melodies are quite decent, including the folk flavorings of "Harmonious" and "Reborn". Even in those cases though the croaky vocals of Christopher Neu sound forced and a stale production that suffers from the typewriter drum sound ruins it. That and the feeling one often gets that WINTERUS is a metalcore band that decided to try its hand at black metal is a continual issue, regardless of whether it is actually the case.

That four of the nine tracks are instrumental, including an awful post-metal opener called "Lone Wolves" that is way out of place, is just odd and makes one question the reasoning behind the decision. Ironically, a couple of the instrumental cuts, "No Rest" in particular, aren't too bad and show at least a hint of potential. By the way, the three closing cuts — "Christ Reign", "Dust Unveils", and "Through the Mist" — were recorded live, which was not immediately apparent, aside from the further drop in recording quality, nor does it do anything to change the overall conclusion. The trio of tracks suffer from the same afflictions.

The bottom line and probably the biggest complaint with "In Carbon Mysticism" is that it in no way, shape, or form represents the kind of album the average fan will want to hear when the black metal mood strikes. This is one strange singing on the part of Lifeforce. Who knew there were these kinds of treacherous waters in Kalamazoo, Michigan? Go Broncos?