Band's List Symphonic Metal Whispers Of Fate Embrace My Winter

Ebrace my Winter is the debut album of the Italian symph metal band Whispers of Fate. This keyboard and synth-dominated band is just beginning to build itself up, and so far things look fairly promising.

The album's overall sound is rather sugary, but it isn't too over-excessive. The production is pretty much keyboard and synth laden, with an underlying hard rock guitar crunch that brings the album a deeper demension. It somewhat reminds me of an anime OST than a metal album, usually striking a melancholy and relaxing tone.

The album opens with an instrumental called Forgotten Prayer, which is a sort of battle march. Tribal drums, choir-like chanting, and the sounds of strings. This is a good introduction to the album, and aside from the fact that this song is fairly darker than the songs with vocals, it effectively introduces the listener to the lush and open atmosphere that the album features.

Unlike a lot of metal and rock music, the singer is a woman. Her voice is soft and fairly low-key, usually not trying to hit very high notes. Her voice does have a lushness to it that I do think works in the albums favour and compliments the wide-open atmosphere. There are times when her voice is a little weak, such as the opening lines of 'Dance of the Clouds'. Despite that, she does have some better moments, like the chorus to the song 'Pain of the Earth'.

The guitars and drums aren't overly involved with the general sound of the album, and don't have many memorable moments. They refrain from being too flashy or in the way, which is okay, but sometimes I think the guitar could have been brought to the front lines without damaging the atmosphere. There is one or two instances in 'Frozen Heart' where the guitars are more up-front, but other than that, they are pretty much in the background. The drums are a little more varied, and do a little bit more than just keeping beat. There are some nice little fills here and there, but again, nothing too flashy or technical. I think that if the guitars had been given more of a chance,it would be easier to avoid the having the songs sound samesy.

As the album continues, the songs begin to get a little uninteresting. Most of them take pretty much the same tone, and the band members seem to be a little bit timid about really pushing their songs to their full potential. There are some nice ideas and sections that work well, don't get me wrong (the intro to the song Sphere would be the first example that comes to mind, or the small interlude titled 'Preludio D'Inverno'), but I think that there's more that could have been done with everything.

In the end, Embrace My Winter is a decent album. For me, it's a nice change of pace compared to what I regularly listen to. I think that it's a good album for its kind, but again, there could have been more variation in the songs.

My favorite song that I'd recommend would easily be Sphere. A heavier intro, the vocals push themselves more on this song, and the guitar and drums are integrated better into the synth element. I feel that the tone of this particular song really comes across well, and the first time I heard it I got shivers. That's a good sign. I think this band has potential, and I'm interested in what they'll put out in the future.