WINTER'S DAWN 
"Wandering Through The Realm Of Frosted Beauty"

Gruppo nato in Inghilterra dalla mente dei due musicisti Raptor (voce, chitarra e basso) e Amnon (batteria e tastiere) i Winter's Dawn giungono al debutto su CD per la Nokternal Hemizphear alla fine del 2008 con questo album intitolato “Wandering Through The Realm Of Frosted Beauty ”, realizzato in un'elegante veste in digipack in sole 500 copie.
Chi ama il black metal sinfonico ma allo stesso tempo grezzo e rude dovrebbe fare in modo di recuperare questo primo vagito di un progetto che fa davvero ben sperare.
Componente essenziale a livello di ispirazione dei Winter's Dawn è, almeno per questa release, la meraviglia che giunge dalla contemplazione della natura; basti citare in tal senso 'Landscape Of winter': " Snow descending deep, / Covering all the ground, / the Landscape transformed, / Gentle without a sound. / The beauty of winter snow, / warms my heart and makes it glow, / Time stands still in this icy scene, / awed I stand calm, serene."
Questo testo abbastanza elementare non si discosta tanto da quanto propongono i gruppi black della scena secolare che inneggiano alla magnificenza della natura. Ciò che rende interessanti i Winter's Dawn è la loro fede cristiana che evidenzia la perfezione del Creato operata da Dio, come si scopre poi in 'The Realm Of Frosted Beauty': "Wandering through the realm / Of frosted beauty. / My heart is filled with divine peace. / I see God's purity in the falling snow, / As it gently falls to the ground."
Anche a livello musicale la differenza espressiva dei due pezzi è sottolineata da una maggiore propensione per la semplicità melodico-sinfonica di 'Landscape Of Winter', posta in contraltare alla costruzione più variegata di 'The Realm Of Frosted Beauty', forse il miglior pezzo del CD.
A livello stilistico i nostri non escono mai dal seminato di un black metal sinfonico di composizione se vogliamo semplice ed elementare ma efficace e coinvolgente.
Ovviamente, viste le tematiche trattate, non mancano brani strumentali, come la meravigliosa 'The Fall: Serenity Lost' (due minuti e venti), in cui dominano la tastiera di Amnon e i tanti suoni che evocano temporali e la natura nella sua perfezione.
Altra caratteristica del CD è lo screaming vocal di Raptor, estremo e urlato, che ricorda decisamente quello di gruppi come i secolari Summoning. Il gruppo austriaco appena citato viene anche imitato per l'uso estremo di tappeti di tastiere altisonanti che si possono ascoltare ad esempio in 'The Battle: Black Illusions', pezzo ipnotico che fa del synth la propria forma espressiva più evidente.
In realtà gli ultimi tre brani del CD sono legati a formare un mini-concept che si conclude con la track finale (anche per il CD) intitolata 'The Victory: Rapturous Surrender', in cui il dubbio circa la fede del protagonista viene risolto a favore di una devozione incontrastata a Dio, dopo che tutte le deboli tentazione del male vengono sconfitte: "Two choices before me, / To doubt or thrust? / Defend or surrender? (...) / Satan playing his part, / A puppet used to bring peace. / Fallen nature disease, / Dubting in God's Love. (...) / Divine inspired confirmations, / Reluctance to trust prevails. / I now surrender my life, / To the God who loves me still."
Concludiamo sottolineando che l'artwork del digipack presentato (ovviamente la copertina ritrae un bellissimo paesaggio innevato) si basa su colori di un azzurro intenso che contrastano con i testi delle canzoni e il logo in bianco, sino a creare una vera e propria vesta grafica "ghiacciata".

Leonardo "Crusader" Cammi
Voto: 7/10

This band was born in England from the mind of two musicians : Raptor (vocal, guitar and bass guitar) and Amnon (drums and keyboards).
Winter’s Dawn proceeds from the debut to CD for the label Nokternal Hemizphear at the end of 2008 with this album titled “Wandering Through The Realm Of Frosted Beauty ”, realized in an elegant digipack, but just only for 500 copies.
The fans of the symphonic black metal but at the same time rude and raw should get this album that it makes well hoping for a success. Essential component of Winter’s Dawn is, at least for this release, the astonishment that comes to the contemplation of the nature; for example we can cite in the song 'Landscape Of winter': "Snow descending deep, / Covering all the ground, / the Landscape transformed, / Gentle without a sound. / The beauty of winter snow, / warms my heart and makes it glow, / Time stands still in this icy scene, / awed I stand calm, serene." This lyric enough elementary isn’t far from the purpose of the black bands of the secular scene that hail to the magnificence of the nature. What it makes interesting this band is its Christian faith that underlines the perfection of the creation made by God, as we can discover in the song 'The Realm Of Frosted Beauty':
"Wandering through the realm / Of frosted beauty. / My heart is filled with divine peace. / I see God's purity in the falling snow, / As it gently falls to the ground."
Also at musical level the expressive difference between the two pieces is underlined by a major propension for the simplicity symphonic-melodic of 'Landscape Of Winter' in contrast with the song 'The Realm Of Frosted Beauty', maybe the best piece of CD.
At stylistic level the band never goes out from the black metal symphonic schema if we want a simple, efficient and involving technique.
Obviously considering the analyzed themes, it doesn’t miss the instrumental songs like the marvellous 'The Fall: Serenity Lost' (two minutes and twenty seconds) dominated by the keyboards of Amnon and by the sounds that evoke storms and the nature in its perfection. Another characteristic of the CD is the vocal streaming of Raptor, extreme and screamed, that remembers decidedly the secular bands like Summoning. The austrian band just cited is also imitated by the extreme usage of resounding keyboards that we can listen for example in 'The Battle: Black Illusions', hypnotic piece with an evident expressive form through the synthetic technique.
In reality the last three songs of CD are grouped to form a little concept that concludes with the final track (also for the CD ) titled 'The Victory: Rapturous Surrender' in which the doubt about the faith of the protagonist is solved thanks to an uncontested devotion to God, after that all the weak evil’s temptations are defeated: "Two choices before me, / To doubt or thrust? / Defend or surrender? (...) / Satan playing his part, / A puppet used to bring peace. / Fallen nature disease, / Dubting in God's Love. (...) / Divine inspired confirmations, / Reluctance to trust prevails. / I now surrender my life, / To the God who loves me still."
I finish underlining that the presented digipack artwork (obviously the cover represent a wonderful landscape covered with snow) is based on colours like an intense cyan that are in contrast with the lyrics of the songs and the white logos, till to create a real “frozen” graphic form.

Leonardo "Crusader" Cammi
Voto: 7/10