Not much is known about this mysterious black metal band, except that they come from Indiana.\u00a0 This is really raw, lo-fi stuff with an experimental edge.\u00a0 If you are not into really weird, dark-sounding black metal, you might want to steer clear of this.<\/span><\/p>\n
There are some very exciting things going on here, from the really raw production values (think early Darkthrone, Marduk kind of sounds with occasional keyboard thrown in for atmosphere), to the bleak, raw riffs coming out of the guitars.<\/span><\/p>\n
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There are also some down points, however.\u00a0 At times, they let the experimental edge go a bit far (is that possible?) like on \u201cNomadic Tumor\u201d where the rhythms get a bit confusing.\u00a0 Are they playing in two different time signatures intentionally or is it just\u00a0 . . . off?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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\u201cCoda\u201d is a mostly instrumental, interesting track that consists of three distinct sections: long guitar solo with lots of echo\/reverb, followed by a section of full band riffing, followed by a section of ambient noise.\u00a0 Somewhat ironically, the third section is the most interesting of the three.<\/span><\/p>\n
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The title track had me looking up the word \u201ctergiversating,\u201d as I\u2019d honestly never heard it before, and it\u2019s a great title considering the album\u2019s content (nope, I\u2019m not gonna give it to you\u2014look it up like I had to!)\u00a0 Again we hear some strange timings and the song suffers from a poor mix with the lead guitar too prominent, at the expense of the other instruments.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Overall I feel that Mystic Winter is a band that will offer some exciting things to come, though I\u2019m afraid that Tergiversating Blasphemies<\/span> might only hint at the possibilities.\u00a0 It suffers from a poor mix and some unhelpful rhythmic structures, but will nonetheless appeal to fans of raw, bleak, slightly experimental black metal. <\/span><\/p>\n
(The Bearded Dragon Productions\/ Blackened Label) 2 stars out of 5<\/span><\/p>\n