Live Review : Winterfylleth + Dread Sovereign @ Rebellion, Manchester on October 18th 2021

Dread Sovereign tread an impressive line between punk and doom. They are a chaotic and wonderfully ramshackle live experience, a million miles from the smooth professionalism of Nemtheanga’s day job Primordial. It is that raw kinetic energy that makes Dread Sovereign such a fantastic live proposition. Nemtheanga and guitarist Bones career around the stage (and into each other) like Tasmanian devils on speed. Its gloriously unchoreographed display and feels hyperactive and untamed. Musically, they are equally primal and organic. This is doom with jagged edges. It is coarse, corrosive and feels like it falls just on the right side of anarchy. Nemtheanga is clearly enjoying the opportunity to do something massively different from his main band and that passion and enthusiasm is infectious.  

It feels bizarre to refer to an album that is 18 months as new, but this the first opportunity that Winterfylleth have had to present tracks from “The Reckoning Dawn” to their fevered fanbase. Tonight’s show has been rescheduled at least four times and you get the feeling that the band can’t quite believe that they are actually here in the sweaty confides of Rebellion. Black Metal gets unfairly maligned as being an inaccessible wall of noise. Winterfyellth seem intent on disproving that opinion, as this is windscreen panoramic metal, full of melody and catchy hooks. Opener ‘Absolved in Fire’ is a colossal epic of a track that frankly has more Judas Priest than Darkthrone in its DNA. Chris Naughton anguished howls keeps the level of brutality up but musically this is trad metal at its core.

As the set proceeds forward, the subtlety and depth in Winterfylleth material really comes to the fore. ‘Whisper of the Elements’ and “The Reckoning Dawn”’s atmospheric title track both are as much about their intricate interludes than they are about their pulsating riffs. The sophistication of their later day stuff is put into even more perspective when we get ‘Ghost of Heritage’ and ‘Mam Tor’ from their debut record. Now, this is old skool Black Metal. Gnarly, intense and just plain evil. Winterfylleth don’t do encores, so we get two final tracks before the curfew beats us. ‘A Hostile Fate’ is the fourth part of their Wayfarer odyssey and once again showcases the wonderful balance of light and dark that makes Winterfylleth such an enticing proposition. Pounding and urgent, but full of exquisitely beautiful sections, that are as bold as they are striking. We get obligatory thanks, a final flurry of ‘Ensigns of Victory’ and they retreat into a plethora of hugs and well wishes from friends and family (this is a hometown show). Winterfylleth are a band in transition but a transition on their own terms.  They are still undeniably Black Metal but using its twisted foundations to construct sonic cathedrals that stretch into the sky. Utterly wonderful.