You have to take your time for the 6 dragging, grinding songs, the excellent songwriting unfolds layer by layer into a nightmare scenario that seems to be constantly lurking, aggressively crouched and in the shadows. The contrast between soft, melodic electric bow leads and clear vocals or even spoken word on the one hand and precise, oppressive riffing, speech samples and animalistic growling on the other only intensifies the discomfort when listening. Overall, you can clearly tell how much effort went into the songs, there are a lot of details to discover and I haven't even got to the lyrics, i.e. the story: The content of the record is based on the novel cycle ‘His Dark Materials’ by Philip Pullman, which reinforces the impression of a soundtrack through the use of spoken texts and samples (partly English, partly German). PHANTOM WINTER have hit the jackpot here, the record that should finally firmly establish the band internationally. A must for fans of ULTHA, THE OCEAN, CULT OF LUNA or MANTAR.
