Title: Il richiamo delle vette
Artist: Winterblood
Rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Dark Ambient
Year: 2013
Country: Italy
Label: De Profundis Netlabel
Dark Ambient is a genre that relies heavily on atmosphere. If the artist fails to create a sense of atmosphere, the music becomes flat, lifeless, and dull. The one man Italian project Winterblood describes itself as “Cold Ritual Shamanic Dark Ambient”, which alludes to the atmosphere that the artist aims to create. Fortunately, Winterblood succeeds in creating music that is cold, lonely, and dreamlike.
Il richiamo delle vette (The Lure of the Peaks) utilizes a small number of synthesizer sounds, which actually works in the artist’s favor, since the album feels much more focused and complete. Rather than individual songs varying greatly in structure and composition, the entire album flows together as one long, continuous journey into an icy landscape. The album begins with the track Il viandante solitario (The Lonely Traveler), and the listener is instantly overwhelmed with the lush sound of a traditional synthesizer pad. The music moves in slow, natural movements which seem to emulate a bleak Winter landscape from the artist’s imagination; deep bass pads act as a drone while higher notes make subtle, melodic movements. This great combination of droning bass sounds and light subtle melodies allows the listener to feel as if they are listening to the musical expressions of natural elements. Some melodies remind me of a falling snowflake, while others remind me of the slow melting of an icicle. Around halfway through the album, the song La notte alle spalle (The Night Behind) introduces the sound of an arctic wind, heightening the sense that the listener is walking through a dreary, snow-peaked mountainside. The album drifts away in the same solitary fashion that it arrived with the track Sentieri (Trails), which fades away after the last snowflake has fallen.
Winterblood has achieved the difficult goal of creating music that is both atmospheric and memorable, using very minimal instrumentation. The album carries a sense of loneliness and solitude, without feeling depressive or sad. It is simply the journey of a lone traveler, crossing the snow-covered trails of a dark ancient mountain, the snow, ice, and wind his only companions. I consider this album to be an excellent display of Dark Ambient, and is recommended for those individuals who walk their own path.