Customer Reviews

Winter Enclosure

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After hearing Lifelines of Depth, I knew I had to get this album. One of my favorite Albums from this band. The music features great riffs and a lovely voice, which seem to blend so well with some of the songs. Silje's (SP?) voice complements each song on the track. Whether you love or hate the song, you have to admit, she does a good job singing. The band also does a great job setting the atmosphere, its like you're almost there in a damp, cold, winter environment. Definitely one of the bands I suggest for any Goth Metal fan out there.

For the Kings Of The Raven Road... Battles!! Battles in The North!!... Battles!! Battles in The Nooorth!!!

Octavia Sperati play an engaging form of atmospheric music much in tune with a sort of tear jerking `epic' grandeur that starts right from the word go, as in right from the cover art onwards. Winter Enclosure is a brooding piece of work with many philosophical reference points to the frozen north, a very much European based concept of lumbering tones with practically inevitable gothic twinges. In the simplest terms this album is mostly of interest to fans of hard rock or heavy metal and Octavia Speratis' main audience within that rather sweeping generalisation would be fans of female fronted metal with a particular appeal to fans of the more melodic and symphonic permutations. Having said that, on the first listen you may not really discern much of the symphonic here, and certainly little of the operatic given vocalist Silje doesn't really have a mega high pitched voice such as may be found in Tarja Turunen or Sharon Den Adel though there are plenty of moments of nasal intonations.

Where the symphonic and to a lesser extent operatic elements do make their presence felt is in the bands ability to use almost subliminal melodies with almost trance inducing vocal lines to make the album feel so complete. It is beguiling in its' ability to just wash over the listener while leaving little trace, even the sections that abound with muscular guitar riffs such as Wasted on the Living. Having said that it's probably true that this is also perhaps the main gripe I have with the album. It isn't really forthcoming with too many handholds for you to really get to grips with it. As such it is an intriguing album and one I have a lot of respect for even while pointing out that the absence of any real silver bullet tracks does make it one for the more attentive musical mind.

Production is fine, very clean but doesn't give off that staid hospital stain many albums are blighted with, the booklet has lyrics to the whole shebang and some interesting photography on the cover and in the booklet is also a nice touch. Lastly respect is due to the band writing everything on here - no outside writers to prop these girls up. And the thank you section of the credits show an eclectic mix of musician friends that makes you ponder just how many influences went into the creation of this album.

All hyperbole aside, this is an interesting album of music, forget genre distinctions. But it's real market probably resides in the hard rock/heavy metal communities legions of fans and most especially those with a hankering for some prog in their female fronted brew.

I actually bought this album without knowing really what it was. It didn't dissapoint me at all. This band has a similarity to Evanescence.

Well. after hearing Guilty demo, I was expecting an amazing first album.. Actually WinterEnclosure is a good work but I expected something more... It has excellent tracks like the known one 'Lifelines in depht', that's an incredible song and there're another excellent songs too.. but there're another ones which are even similar (just in part) to Evanescense. That disappointed me a bit...
Anyway it's better than many albums with that style and it reminds me The Gathering, during awesome Mandylion times.
In spite of some details I recommend this album