Blackwinds
Flesh Inferno
5.7
I was hoping for something good from Blackwinds. The cover art looked pretty spiffy, and a cursory listen to a few tracks made me pick up on the high-quality production. It seemed promising for a band with a sound similar to Naglfar, or Vreid with symphonic touches, or a less symphonic Sear Bliss. Three songs into my initial listen, however, and my optimism lay on the ground with a fatal head wound.
Blackwinds’s problem is largely academic. They came to class with every element of the requisite black metal formula copied immaculately, their worksheets pertaining to the same subject filled out with all of the tried and true answers. They sat down very nicely, and presented their very clean and by-the-books work. That’s all well and good, but I was looking for someone to rip up the sheets in my face, draw pentagrams on the floor with the blood of the innocent, behead animals indiscriminately, and screech incoherently about committing dastardly deeds. Flesh Inferno is, musically, an amalgamation of most black metal clichés, but with no fire or rage added into the mix. Or, if there is rage there, it’s so bland and devoid of uniqueness it’s imperceptible. Vaguely interesting riffs are few and far between, and an overwhelming feeling of “I’ve heard this before, and better” makes the album hard to listen to in its entirety. It’s kind of a shame, too. The production is very fitting, the guitars and drums are played well, and the vocalist is very competent. There is clearly an aptitude for playing the music; it’s the songwriting that stifles the album.
That said, a capable output of unoriginality is always better than pure crap on all fronts, so, if pressed to the task, one could manage to wring something enjoyable out of Flesh Inferno. It isn’t bad, but it is extremely boring.
