Gone Til Winter Album Review
Without getting into an in-depth discussion as to why I, like any metalhead, prefer one subgenre over another whilst reminding all my beloved readers (yet another example of my self-delusion, using the plural “readers”) what I’m sure all of you in your infinite wisdom are acutely aware of, and that is how it’s the nature of any review to reflect the opinions of just one person, i.e. the individual writing it, I just can’t go any further without at least mentioning how consistently let down I am by the whole melodic/goth metal malarkey. It’s like ‘user-friendly’ metal, never pushing any boundaries, never trying to be the fastest or loudest, the most technical or the most progressive, and definitely not the heaviest or scariest beast on the block. It’s dark without being black - kinda like metal minus the fucked-up attitude.
That being said, if I pretended for five minutes there was nothing more in life I’d prefer to do than lock myself in a room and listen to metal’s version of easy listening with the requisite chick on vocals twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year (so, a fan then), this Mancunian quintet certainly don’t come off as shabby amateurs compared to their northern European counterparts who, incidentally, have dominated the scene for quite some time now - far from it, and this mini-album demonstrates their ability to peddle exactly what the likes of Lacuna Coil have been peddling for years.
It would be difficult when discussing Gone Til Winter to limit oneself to language consistent with dualism, a doctrine that the universe is ruled by the two opposing principles of good and evil and whose influence is evident not only in many of our religious and social institutions but which also, overtly and subtly, infiltrates and alters our very perceptions of reality, effectively dictating that human experience is regulated by binary opposites such as right/wrong, black/white, etc - because Gone Til Winter aren’t exactly veering towards the extreme end of any scale, preferring to paint with a palette made up of numerous shades of grey. Depending on who you are, this can be both a good and a bad thing (ooh, dualism’s paradox, juicy!), and without allowing this review to wander too far into existentialist territory let’s just say while not the most outstanding release this reviewer has heard this year, it certainly ain’t the worst.
So, not the darkest, not the heaviest, but also not claiming to be - if you like your metal all shades of melodic and with a nice goth-tinge, then Gone Til Winter might just be your cup of whatever it is you’re drinking these days.