Winterlong - Longing for Winter

Winterlong is the brainchild of Thorbjörn Englund. Proving to be purveyors of some of the finest neo-classical Nordic power metal to have come out of Scandinavia in the 21st century. The band went through a series of line-up changes yet retained their own identifiable sound for their first 3 albums before changing track to a heavier style of metal for their fourth (and to date last) album 'Metal/Technology'. "Longing For Winter" sees tracks compiled from the bands career and along with 4 previously unreleased tracks from the bands archives makes this an ideal starting point for anyone that has yet to sample the Winterlong sound. Winterlong started out as a band and first came to prominence with their debut album "Valley Of The Lost" in 2001 which received strong critical praise. Subsequent albums saw Thorbjörn creating the music himself with a variety of musicians. For "The Second Coming" (2003) with drummers Anders Johansson (Hammerfall, ex Malmsteen) and Andreas Lill (Vanden Plas). Italian keyboard virtuoso Mistheria (as with the debut) contributed keyboard solos yet it was the presence of vocalist Mikael Holm that had the most impact from the then new release whose powerful soaring vocals worked to perfection with Englund's fleeting fingers. The Englund/Holm magic was then further enhanced for the band's 3rd release, the self titled "Winterlong" seeing Leif Eriksson handle drums and this album saw the bands sound honed to perfection. Even Englund himself wondered how this could be bettered. So instead Thorbjorn took the decision to create Winterlong's fourth album alone with a new sound, The result was "Metal/Technology" which saw heavier Pantera style riffs coupled with Thorbjörn Englund handling all other instrumentation and vocals himself. Whilst this is a departure from the traditional Winterlong sound, Englunds guitar trademarks are still here in spades.