Operation Winter Mist
Winter Warfare II
6.5
From Canada comes Operation Winter Mist, a raw black metal act that uses its music as a medium to express its love for the art of war. Armed with a sound similar to many Second Wave black metal acts such as Darkthrone and early Satyricon, Operation Winter Mist plays their black metal strictly by the book. For what it's worth, they know the formula well, and fans of the genre will certainly appreciate this for its trueness to form. However, there is very little on Winter Warfare II that will appeal to those outside the small circles of the lovers of all things grim.
The follow up to Winter Warfare EP, this album contains all three tracks found on that EP, as well as four new songs, a Bathory cover, and some live tracks. The production follows the industry standard to a tee. Lots of crash, muffled kicks and inaudible bass, all of which lends to the album's raw atmosphere. When the riffs are good and the song structures are well thought out, the band is able to vividly portray their bleak vision of the battlefield. "At all Costs" and its repetitive, near death metal riffing is compelling and at times sounds like a closer relative to Bolt Thrower than Mayhem. "Forever Frost" soldiers forward predictably before breaking into a short Bathory inspired interlude. This subtle introduction of restraint is tasteful enough to not interrupt the grinding flow of the song and shows that this band certainly knows their history. The rest of the material falls short of impactful. "In the Trenches" and "Blood on Ice" sound forced and are not able to produce any entrancing moments that justify their mind-bogglingly simple structures. The Bathory cover is fun, because Bathory kicks ass. As a result, Operation Winter Mist kick ass by association when covering "Sadist." The live tracks are total abortions, and should be seen as extras that only the most masochistic of devotees should even attempt to listen to.
There are some that simply admire a successful execution of a specific formula, if you're one of those people then you can feel safe shelling out a few bucks for a copy of Winter Warfare II. Everybody else would be well advised to save their money.
