Artist: Winterstorm
Country: Ecuador
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital EP
Year: 2025
With ‘Australes Bosques Misantropicos’ Winterstorm presents a new EP or single, with two new tracks that are set to whet our appetites. This is not a real EP that bridges to a new album, but really like an old-fashioned single that presents an appetizer with two tracks that will re-appear on that next album which, as it currently appears, will be released by Out Of The Dungeon. Although that alone is already enough to pique some interest, these two tracks are also the first ones that marks the band as a purely Ecuadorian Black Metal outfit.
The band’s latest output, the 2023-released split LP with Old Castles, turned out to be the last one that featured the excommunicated Lord Valtgryftåke. Although no genuine and independently verifiable facts have been presented, the internet beef between the Chilean Carlos “Lord Valtgryftåke” Andrés Eckhardt and the Ecuadorian scene ended their cooperation in numerous bands and projects, of which both Wampyric Rites and Winterstorm are the most notable. However, those who feared that Winterstorm would suffer irreparable damage as a result of this break-up can breathe a sigh of relief, as those concerns appear to be completely unfounded.
Whether these two tracks presented here are indeed making their return on the upcoming full-length album or will turn out to be just a warming-up exercise, it makes it clear that the band is continuing on the path it has chosen. It is still about fairly fast-paced Black Metal that is both moody and melodic, aiming for a wintery atmosphere and with a near-perfect production. It sounds clear and clean enough for the majority of the music to be as powerful as a winter storm, yet raw enough to retain its piercing cold. The foundation consists of the basic building blocks of strikingly open and catchy heavy metal riffs and leads, something that was already the case in the past but now seems to have been further emphasised.
So, although ‘Australes Bosques Misantropicos’ brings nothing new to the table, it is at least a welcome gesture to show that those who don’t care about internet feuds but are here for the music can eagerly look forward to a new Winterstorm album.
