Review by Vladimir on March 21, 2023.

Canadian black/thrash metal band Winterhearth has unveiled their new release on the horizon, in the form of a six track EP called Rape Of Eden, released on March 21st, 2023. The story told through this EP reflects on a different plant and how it will destroy the human body and soul. It is thematically relevant to Ecocentrism, a point of view that focuses on the ecosphere rather than the biosphere. Let’s see what story is told through this EP about the Rape and Ruin of this garden of Eden. 

The EP begins with an instrumental intro track which is less than a minute long, jumping straight into the second track 'Scarlet Love (& A Black Heart)' which has some low-pitched demonic narration before blasting into black-thrashing only a few second later. From here on we get some tremolo and blackened thrash metal riffing, distorted bass guitar, blast beats and double-bass drumming, and harsh singing vocals. The third title track throws in some nice synths at the beginning and in the mid-section which at both times quickly switches back to black metal, whereas the majority of the song is more or less slow and mid-tempo-based riffing and drumming, with the exception of an occasional blast beat. The fourth track 'Monkshood' brings back the faster rhythm with thrash metal drumming and blast beats, with some slightly technical riffs as well. Personally, when it comes to my general opinion of this EP, there are glaring issues I have with it that prevent me from enjoying it. One would be the sound production, which is a bit too dry for my taste because the vocals, guitars and drums sound very weak in the final mix, even the guitar solos didn’t sound so stellar, therefore not being able to captivate any better. Another thing that bothers me a bit is the lackluster songwriting which promised a lot in the start, but doesn’t quite manage to deliver. Don’t get me wrong, there are instances of solid riffing, melodies and so on and so forth, but then again it doesn’t really possess any climax that would hit you just as hard to really feel the song. Honestly the overall experience made me feel as if I was listening to some demo rather than a finished product, not so much because of the songwriting, but mostly due to the sound production. 

I don’t know whether I would personally recommend this EP since you aren’t really missing anything in the end. Somehow for a band that has been around since 2008, this is what we got in the end which isn’t really what you’d expect to be honest. I was really looking forward to hearing some nice melodic black metal fused with thrash metal, but what I got in the end was a “stale bread solid as a rock”. Winterhearth should improve both their songwriting and their sound production on their next release since this was not my cup of tea. 

Rating: 5.8 out of 10