If you like your black metal like I do—dark, foreboding, Satanic—I suggest you abstain from reading any further. The year so far has allowed us to explore many depths of the black metal spectrum, and it seems Forgotten Winter has given us yet another taste of something new with their latest release, Vinda. Within these uniquely medieval lines of music, the duo offer plenty of potential in quality, yet ultimately leave a little something left to be desired.

Vinda is just the third full-length from the Portuguese natives, following 2009’s Dialéctica Transcendental and 2013’s highly regarded Origem da Inexistência. While some may look for darkness and depth in ambient or symphonic black metal, Forgotten Winter instead qualify their sound as adventurously medieval—heavy on keyboards and folk elements. Triumphant at times, and somber in others, it’s definitely reminiscent of times long past, centuries ago, high in the hills in the green of summer. It’s a fascinating journey in musical time, to say the least.

From a structural standpoint, there is a lot to appreciate. With just five songs that span combine to span more than an hour, each one is an investment. But it works for this stylistic theme. Starting with the opener, “Uldene,” there are long, drawn-out moments focused on a rhythmic cadence, and chants with faint, whispered cries that feel as if they are quite literally emerging from the past. Some moments may be overly deliberate, as there is a noticeable shortage in time changes and technicality, but when you treat the tracks as they should—as prolonged voyages of sorts—it’s acceptable. No track speaks to this better than “Penumbra,” which even includes some spoken chants overriding a far more haunting choir vocal line in the background. Yet the song’s pace never changes. It’s all interesting in its utilization of symphonic and ambient elements to create a sound of this variety, but even the slightest progressive influence could have potentially taken these tracks a long way. Regardless, the grandiosity of the sound and how it’s built into the individual structures is nicely done, generating a pleasantly folk environment.

However, the relationship between the instruments could use some maturation. When you open each track, either with percussion or ambient vocals, they have an almost militaristic dryness to that is rather enchanting. The guitars are put together nicely as well. Each lead and riff is clear and allows a listener to definitely follow along the musical path put together by the combination of these three elements. Together, they sound natural, cohesive, and have a significant influence on the environment Forgotten Winter is after. But it’s the keyboards that take things back a few steps. They simply don’t match the overall atmosphere of the sound. They feel slightly forced, somewhat digitized and, quite frankly, too pronounced relative to everything else. Take the second-to-last track, “Adamaele”—are those constantly droning tones doing anything to help the overall sound? It’s an element that takes too strong of a stance in the forefront, hurting an otherwise impressively natural, atmospheric environment. The role of these elements in overall work is understandable in theory, but in practice it’s an unfortunate hindrance to the overall picture.

Beyond that, though, Forgotten Winter has created an enjoyable listen overall in Vinda. It’s calm, yet can be both sobering and triumphant at various points along the record. It all combines to make an hour of music that is captivating in the way it dramatically strides along, minute by minute, creating an environment not so frequently scene in the black metal world. While there’s still certainly room for growth in certain aspects of the instrumentals and production, the quality and potential is obvious. This is a style of music that provides endless room for experimentation once the sound gets where it needs to. So at this point, it’s just a matter of Forgotten Winter reaching that point and seeing where they can take this thing. And there’s more than enough cause for intrigue.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
-Corey

Vinda is out now on Slowdriver Productions. For more information on Forgotten Winter, visit the band’s Facebook page.