Lovingly pinched from Thrash Hits: Music lives and dies by its ability to affect the listener, yet few metal bands are capable of making a record that moistens the eyes and puts a lump in the throat of even the most sentimental listener, let alone the most hardened of metal fans. But when not only does this, but does it through the medium of savage, bleak black metal while still evoking all the emotions metal's most evil style is known for, this becomes a staggering achievement. Winterfylleth have done just this.

The Mercian Sphere starts out feeling like something you have heard before. Reminders of early Enslaved, along with an occasional lead guitar line that is reminiscent of Pure Holocaust-era Immortal, leap out of the speakers, full of all the savagery and negativity you would expect.

The notable difference early on is purely in feel - everything sounds so English. The icy landscapes and pagan Viking brutality that permeates Norwegian black metal is not what come to mind. Instead, it is the roll of the South Downs or the darkness of the long-since cut-down primeval forests of England, all draped in the chilling rain of autumn that comes across. Partially this is due to occasional interspersion of wordless singing and folk-like elements, but mainly because, for all its viciousness, the music has a lush feel of life that the starkness of a Scandinavian winter - and the music it has inspired - does not.

Continue reading: Album: Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere | Thrash Hits.