With a name like WINTERTHRONE you expect black metal of the darkest and coldest realms possible. You may even wonder if it sounds close to Darkthrone. You may expect a band like this to be from the great country of Norway. The answer to the first phrase is yes, but does WINTERTHRONE have anything in common with Darkthrone and the answer is simply no. This one man band coming straight at you from Germany has released a demo, a 7 inch and now two full length albums all since the year of 2002.

We begin with the song A Deeper Black. Black as hell it sure sounds. This is extremely raw black metal, nearly symphonic in a sense. The production is muddy as fuck. The vocals are so messy and unintelligible. It just sounds like someone screaming through a processor. That is probably the worst aspect of this album. There is the ever present drum machine as well. Funny, that is the only thing that sounds clear on this release. The guitars have way too much reverb for my liking, though at times they actually save this album. They have a depressive melodic feel at times, and sometimes clearly shine through as a highlight amidst the oppressive nature of the songs. And in the middle of most songs they give way to an interesting black metal groove that I find satisfyingly worth my listen. WINTERTHRONE is very keen on the down tuning. It almost gives this brand of black metal a small element of doom. The drums mingle back and forth from thrashy drum beats to steady mid paced beats to downright blast beats. The songs are indeed long and have many changes within themselves. Listening to WINTERTHRONE’s Bones album, it is hard to determine where one song ends and one begins as they begin to drone together. If the vocals were more understandable I might like this album more, but these crazy effects are really turning me off.

If you are into raw, self produced black metal than WINTERTHRONE’s Bones is definitely worth checking out. It is not horrible, but it isn’t that great either.