Extreme Cold Winter – World Exit
Release Date: 15th October 2021
Label: Hammerheart Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Death Metal.
FFO: Officium Triste, Disembowelment, Beyond Belief.
Review By: Martha Skourteli
What do you expect to hear from three very experienced, active musicians that got together at some point and decided to start something new? You pretty much expect great results….and that’s what you get!!
Dutch super band Extreme Cold Winter were created in 2009 by guitarist A.J. van Drenth (Beast Of Revelation, Temple, Throne), drummer Seth van de Loo (Voodoo Gods, Severe Torture, Infected Flesh) and vocalist Pim Blankenstein (Officium Triste, The 11th Hour, Clouds). Their style is old school doom death metal with all the roughness one would expect.
After the EP Paradise Ends Here in 2015 they return with their full length album World Exit which will be released on the 15th of October by Hammerheart Records.
The album consists of 7 tracks totaling to almost 51 minutes of absolutely massive and utterly harsh doom death metal that at times goes beyond eeriness. The essence throughout all songs (with the exception of The Sea Taketh) is this of going through some form of torture and your boneless corpse crawling to get out of its misery.
The guitars, compared to the EP of 2015, are more melodic but still with unbearable heaviness. The drums just bang in your ears whilst forcing your heart to suffer.
As for Pim’s vocals, I don’t think I need to say anything. This guy has his own style of singing that is not growling, it’s not clean and it’s mainly easily understandable lyrics sung with gravel in the throat. He could easily be among the favorite singers of every doom metal fan.
A couple of personal choices from the album are the magnificent 6-minute instrumental The Sea Taketh that will mesmerize everybody. It’s this track with the endless guitar melody that you want to listen to while walking barefoot next to the sea. Just so beautiful. My second favorite is Pharmakia which in my language (Greek) means poisons and it’s a kind of mysterious word for people not knowing the language when they’re trying to understand its meaning in the bible as well as its said relation to witchcraft. Tricky!!
World Exit is an album that one should have in their collection because of its representative style. It’s a must have if you’re looking for great songs, created and performed by very good musicians. An easy selection when you fancy listening to rough old school tunes of doom death.
(4.5 / 5)
