- Country: UK
- Style: Atmospheric black metal
- Label: Candlelight Records
- Release date: 8 May 2020
The Reckoning Dawn was billed as Winterfylleth’s first full-length metal album since 2014’s The Divination of Antiquity, and it sounds like a band with something to prove. It’s eight songs, recorded with Chris Fielding at Foel Studio in Wales, and it’s one of the strongest things the Manchester band has done.
“Misdeeds Of Faith” opens at full speed, tremolo riffs and blasting drums with a clear, cold melody running over the top. It’s immediate and aggressive, a statement of intent. “A Hostile Fate (The Wayfarer Pt. 4)” follows with more room to breathe and some of the best guitar lines on the record.
The long songs are where the album really lives. “Absolved In Fire” runs close to ten minutes and never drags, shifting from fury to something almost mournful and back. The title track does the same trick with more patience. Short interlude “Betwixt Two Crowns” gives a moment to catch your breath before the last stretch.
“In Darkness Begotten” closes things on a long, slow-burning build. The production is clean enough that every layer is audible, but it never loses the rawness this style needs. Atmospheric black metal with real songwriting behind it, and England’s best example of it in 2020.
Best tracks:
Misdeeds Of Faith
A Hostile Fate (The Wayfarer Pt. 4)
Absolved In Fire
In Darkness Begotten
Author’s rating: 8.6/10
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