The Flashcards: Winter – Into Darkness (1990)

65/100

Genre: death/doom metal

While the United States and Europe were being hit by various styles of death metal, an anomaly emerged that disrupted that ferocity, twisting it into a bleaker form through the intervention of doom metal. It isn't a healthy, starving wolf that can still sprint swiftly after its prey; rather, it is a wolf bowed down, hungry, and wounded in the dead of a freezing night or winter season, ready to die and rot.

Winter isn't my first death/doom metal band. I just stumbled upon them by chance back on the file-hosting site Zippyshare, and well, much like the dynamic between USPM and European power metal, the social cultures of these two regions heavily influenced the styles on display. Winter stays closer to raw death metal roots, whereas the Peaceville Three—like My Dying Bride, for instance—utilize keyboards, violins, and clean vocals for a completely different aesthetic. That's why this second spin feels much the same: there's a dry, jarring quality to it, even with the addition of synths. "Manifestation I," serving as one of the bonus tracks, actually leans closer to experimental/noise, which was quite a surprise.

So, while I respect it from a historical standpoint, when it comes to personal taste, I'll pass for now.

Tracklist:

1. Oppression Freedom/Oppression (Reprise)

2. Servants of the Warsmen

3. Goden

4. Power and Might

5. Destiny

6. Eternal Frost

7. Into Darkness

[Bonus]

8. Servants of the Warsmen (demo)

9. Eternal Frost (demo)

10. Winter (demo)

11. Blackwhole (demo)

12. Manifestation I

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