Vintersorg

Cosmic Genesis (Napalm)
by Scott Hefflon

Now a two-piece (never realized the first three were all one guy, vocalist/guitarist Vintersorg) and sung in English, Cosmic Genesis is a much more accessible concept, but still firmly rooted in the folk metal tradition. Obviously coming from a black metal background (imagine the Crash Test Dummies and Creed jamming with a little demon popping in every so often to snarl something before disappearing in a poof of foul-smelling smoke), Vintersorg has the songwriting talent to metal-up a Monster Magnet-esque riff (I think it’s actually the rolling, open plains feeling punctuated by steep crags and wind-swept passes – works in the Rockies as well as the Alps), and while pulling away from the brutal-for-brutal’s-sake limitations of extreme metal, Metallica moody rage mixed with Type O vocal depth should attract this band a wider metal audience. The closer, “The Enigmatic Spirit,” is a moving piece that’ll make you drop to your knees, open your arms to the sky and demand an answer for all the frustration and mental blocks we humans experience, the shackles that limit the movement of our mind, body, and spirit.
(PO Box 382 Bremerton, WA 98337)