With their second album, “The Mercian Sphere”, Winterfylleth is cementing their position as a top class act within the realms of atmospheric black metal!

The band calls their music “English Heritage Black Metal” (EHBM) having vowed to spread the word about England’s glorious past. If comparisons have to be made, influences from early Enslaved and Ulver are evident as well as a relation to bands like Drudkh, Negura Bungent and Forefather. At the same time Witerfylleth has a distinct English vibe that puts them in the same league as Wodensthrone and Fen.

I will not recommend any particular tracks from the albums as I think that one of the major strengths of “The Mercian Sphere” is exactly the album format, the album being both diverse and coherent as a single unit. It is really making me happy to hear a proper coherent album since I really love the idea of albums as one piece of art and not just some tracks that can be downloaded from the Net.

The absence of some of the more exotic medieval instruments will perhaps deter some and delight others. Even though I normally don’t shun all kinds of instruments in metal I can appreciate this way of doing this kind of music as well. No matter what, this is a more than solid release and is recommended to fans of the above mentioned bands as well as general fans of black and folk metal.