By: Tordah

Posted: Feb 7, 2006

I was greatly impressed with Winterlong's previous effort and naturally I was looking forward a lot to their next album. When I started listening to "Metal/Technology" I was completely flabbergasted. I thought I must be listening to the wrong Winterlong because this sounded absolutely nothing like their previous stuff. Apparently Thorbjörn Englund got tired of the power metal sound and felt it was time for something new. On this album Englund handles the vocals and all the instruments himself except for the drums.

There have been a lot of changes in the Winterlong sound since the last album. The addition of synthesizers, processed drum-beats and various electronic sounds seems to me like a rather odd idea to mix with power metal but that's what "Metal/Technology" does. As the album title implies this is a hybrid of sounds created with hi-tech equipment and metal music. At first I loathed the new style and thought it was the worst idea ever. Once I got used to it and started to accept the changes it was actually not all that bad. It was certainly a brave move on Englund's behalf to abandon the sound that his fans were used to and do something fresh. I'm sure it won't appeal to everyone and that it will annihilate a lot of old Winterlong fans. Personally, I think the biggest mistake he did was not to release this "project" under a new band-name. It would've made sense to do so since "Metal/Technology" is pretty much a one man effort and have nothing to do with the old Winterlong albums.

As I mentioned earlier, Englund does all the vocals on this album. He sings most of the time with a rather monotone and low-pitched heavy metal voice. His range is not all that great but he does pull off a pretty good Udo Dirkschneider imitation in some of the tracks. Handling the vocals by himself was second biggest mistake Englund did with this album. He should've let Mikael Holm do the vocals instead. His voice is ten times better and more powerful than Englund's ever will be and that's a fact. One thing that still is present is Englund's ability to write catchy tunes with crunchy riffs. 'The Hunter' is a perfect opener with an ultra-catchy Accept-like chorus. 'On A Demon's Night' is a very cool instrumental piece with neo-classical guitar-shredding similar to 'Bloodshred' from the previous album. The production is crystal-clear and gives plenty of room for the all different instruments to breathe. There are plenty of experimentation and crazy keyboard effects throughout the album. The more I listen to the songs the more I appreciate these experimental parts such as a quirky synth-melody or a breakdown with heavily processed drum-beats. 'Like Ships In The Night', for example, features an operatic chorus with female vocals. Very odd but also very cool. Englund makes all these crazy ideas come together and create something really unique and original. It would take me ages to try and describe every song in full detail.

After listening to the album many times I have come to the conclusion that the album is excellent. At first I hated it but that was simply because I was so fond of Winterlong's self-titled album whereas "Metal/Technology" sounds nothing like it. The music is great and original and that's what counts after all. Thorbjörn Englund is a musical genius and I hope he still has some peculiar ideas for the next Winterlong release. More people need to take notice of this band and check them out.

Rating: 8,5/10

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