Title: La Via di Neve
Artist: Winterblood
Rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Dark Ambient
Year: 2015
Country: Italy
Label: Frozen Light
Winterblood is a dark ambient project from Italy and was one of the first projects I reviewed for this zine. Winterblood now returns with a new album titled La Via di Neve, released on CD by Frozen Light Label. This EP continues in the same vein as ‘Il Richiamo delle vette’, creating very cold and bleak soundscapes. Deep pulsing synth pads are typically accompanied by crystalline sounds which play brooding melodies over the rumbling bass of the pad. Much like the previous Winterblood release, this creates strong mental images in the listener. The sounds used create the feeling of snow falling against a mountainside, of the sun glaring over the hoarfrost, or the wind passing through a frozen landscape. My personal favorite track of the release is ‘Anelli’, one of the longest songs featured. Soft chromatic percussion plays a very melancholic melody while synth pads drift in the background. While many Winterblood songs carry the bleak feeling of a harsh landscape, this song feels like an ancient being wandering the snow-covered mountains. Although this release consists of only 5 songs, the total runtime is roughly 42 minutes.
This review is based on the CD version of the album, which contains excellent artwork (see above). Images of spirits lost in a snowstorm enhance the atmosphere of the album, and lyrics are also included for each song. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to translate the lyrics from Italian, but having lyrics featured there is a bonus that many ambient projects never attempt. Winterblood is the complete package for cold dark ambient (from the presentation to the music itself), and La Via di Neve was well worth the couple years of waiting that I’ve been doing since reviewing the last album. If you find yourself wanting music even colder and lonelier than Paysage d’hiver, this is for you.
