Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Winter - Into Darkness (1990)

In my book, 1990 was a sterling year for releases.  Just take a look in the Releases section on the site folks and tell me otherwise amigos!  It was one of the key formative years of discovery for me in metal and one that is close to my heart as a result.  Now, although not on any "top" release list of mine for the year, I am already aware of the existence of Winter and their classic debut album Into Darkness having read much love for it and venturing into numerous listens over the years.  The fact is, not having been that into most of the doom metal world and associated sub-genres, I hadn't really paid it that much attention until having to revisit for The Fallen clan challenge I am undertaking.

Having heard it several times in recent weeks I would describe it as a very functional album.  Backhanded compliment though that may be it is most certainly true to my ears at least.  I don't recall an album that marries the sum of its parts so well in all honesty.  Servants of the Warsmen for example is so simplistic yet effective that it actually makes me smile (not the intention of the record - I know!) with its almost arrogant presentation.  At the same time, the album overall is a (deliberately) monotonous affair that uses repetition extensively.  This does not get boring at any point since the idea is to create an atmosphere and inhabit that dank space for the entre 46 minutes of the album run time.

My "functional" comment therefore is aimed as nothing but praise, certainly when we add the context of the timing of this record (there wasn't much of anything like this out there at the time).  To create such an immersive experience with such a stripped back and down-tuned set of parts is truly interesting to me.  It is almost an effortless record to listen to because it does the job it intends to do so well.  As if opening up the album with an instrumental track is not bold enough a move, we get another one in the middle of the album which kicks off the whole tortuously slow second half of the record.

I would describe Winter's one and only full-length as "nonchalant" in delivery, designed to baffle by the sheer weight of the basic arrangements alone.  But the bafflement is dulled by the slow doping your brain gets track after track as Into Darkness washes over you.  One of the most relaxing listening experiences of my Fallen clan journey so far.