Gwynbleidd: Amaranthine

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, comes this fascinating band called Gwynbleidd, and their mix of prog rock, Celtic folk, black & death metal, and avant-garde on their new CD Amaranthine. Roughly a 40-minute precursor to a full length release, Amaranthine is like a head- on collision between Opeth, Enslaved, and some of the more avant-garde metal bands on the roster of The End Records. Consisting of four long pieces, Gwynbleidd take the listener through many different terrains here, mixing it up quite well and ultimately offering up plenty to please both the prog and metal crowd. Their ability to mix deft acoustic passages with crushing and intricate metal sections will remind instantly of Opeth, and the mixture of clean, black, and death vocal styles once again bring the Swedish giants to mind, as well as the mighty Enslaved. Weaving electric guitars, nimble bass & drum work, and gentle, almost folky acoustic guitar passages, all make up the mix here, and each song is like an epic adventure. "Nostalgia" is a progressive death metal number, while "New Setting" reaches into black metal territory with plenty of Celtic elements. Intricate progressive metal mixes with folk and black metal on the crushing "The Awakening", and the closer "Lure of the Land" shows many layers, including folk, prog rock, and epic black metal.

This is a CD that is going to get lots of attention once the word gets around, and I'm sure that labels will be lining up to sign Gwynbleidd. Based on the promise shown here, their full-length follow-up should be a monster.

Track Listing
A
1) Nostalgia (10:54)
2) New Setting (9:45)
B
3) The Awakening (9:51)
4) Lure of the Land (9:12)

Added: September 25th 2006
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Gwynbleidd My Space Page
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Language: english

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