‘Australes Bosques Misantropicos’ (Southern Misanthropic Forests) is Winterstorm’s ninth recording and second full length album for this year. ‘Australes Bosques Misantropicos’ marks a resolute return for the Ecuadorian Black Metal outfit, now fully severed from its Chilean past and forging ahead with icy clarity and melodic force. A second full length it is, featuring 5 new tracks. Two of those, ‘Night Forest Soundscape I’ & ‘En El Horizonte De La Noche’ were already presented as a featured single to the public.
It’s the first recording to feature Winterstorm as a purely Ecuadorian entity following the departure of Lord Valtgryftåke, whose split with the Ecuadorian scene ended a prolific collaboration across bands like Wampyric Rites and Winterstorm.
Winterstorm are from Ecuador and play Raw Black Metal and consist in the current lineup of: Wampyric Akhkharu (guitars), Wampyric Strigoi (vocals & bass) and Bifrous Nocturno (Guitars).
Winterstorm’s signature blend of fast-paced, (melodic) Black Metal with a wintery, atmospheric edge. The production is notably crisp—clear enough to amplify the power of the riffs, yet raw enough to retain the genre’s essential coldness. The band leans heavily into catchy heavy metal leads, a trait also present in earlier works but now more pronounced, giving the tracks a striking immediacy without sacrificing any atmospher or mood.
‘Night Forest Soundscape I’ bursts open with a tremendous raw scream and dishes out Black Metal with an ultra-heavy bass, pounding dreams, incredibly (melodic) tremolo picked guitar licks and the feral, coarse vocals in the most impure Lamp Of Murmuur/Sanguine Relic, Gryftigæn, Funeral Fullmoon, Vampyric Bvrial… vein.
And 4 more blistering tracks wipe the dust away in your house while you sit or stand open-mouthed and baffled by this tornado. It is best you discover it for yourself.
Merciless pounding on the skins, molesting the cymbals (the drum work is amazing on this release!) and a thick slimy sludge of necrotic, yet often melodic guitars wreak havoc on the ears and speakers, yet there are sparse acoustic parts as a contrast to this aural barrage as well to be found.
In comparison to the ‘Vinterstormener’ album from 2021, the music on this album goes a lot deeper than ever before, it boasts a clear, detailled yet unmistakenly preserved raw edge and shows an increasing musical maturity from the band.
Despite its brevity, ‘Australes Bosques Misantropicos’ is not just a filler or a transitional gesture. Nope. It’s a full re-affirmation of Winterstorm’s artistic identity post-schism, and a promise of continuity for fans who feared the band might falter.
But no, rest assured, it’s a confident, well-produced bold statement of purpose, steeped in the frostbitten spirit that defines the band’s ethos.
Fans of the band or genre…fill out yourselves.
