13 Winters

Where the Souls Wander (Dark Valley)
By Scott Hefflon

Wow, really?!? Kick-ass black/extreme female-fronted metal from Maine. Yeah, Maine. Sure, the release suffers a little from not having a monster budget for production, but man, they work with what they have, and they’ll freak out yer little sister, that’s for sure. Singer Die Winters is a female, as I mentioned, and is part Tom Warrior (from Celtic Frost, not sure what variation of his name he’s using now) circa Morbid Tales/Into the Pandemonium (aka the good years) and part Dani Filth (shrieks less, roars more, but she’s one scary bitch now matter how you slice or dice it), and she sure shows up twats like Otep and In This Moment as the glam metal posers they are, howling like banshees or not.

There’s Middle Eastern snake-charming and sand-buried melodies here I’d rather not listen to by candlelight, and if you don’t know why, you don’t know why, ya know?

Good musicians are a dime a dozen, and plenty of metal douches can scream until their eyeliner runs, but crafting truly haunting, spooky metal – in freakin’ Maine, not less – that takes depth as well as talent. It’s hard to tell if all the songs are well-written, because as soon as you’re about to criticism a boring plod, they rattlesnake and sting you with some crushing blastbeats, or they withdrawl to watch you wither as the distant monk chants lull you to sleep.

This band won’t stay unsigned or unknown for long, so track them down and get in with them now.
(www.dark-valley-records.com)