Sieghetnar "Astralwinter" CD Box A5

Comes in a DVD Case

How to spend half an hour wisely? The answer is easy - listen to "Astralwinter" and be prepared to do some intense mind traveling. Focusing on the ambient side of Sieghetnar, this MCD gives you two ambient tracks with one instrumental ambient black metal track squeezed between them. The listener is transported straight out into the landscape shown on the cover, a winter day in the embrace of nature. Another band playing this type of stuff is Vinterriket but I have to say that Sieghetnar does it better. The ambient tracks, while not really more complex than those of Vinterriket, are more beautiful and emotional. Oh, and one more thing, the ambient tracks actually differ from each other. This is something Vinterriket doesn't always manage to accomplish.
"Einklang" is the entrance - a slow-paced grandiose track with a spacious feel that takes you up into the cold sky to drift among the clouds like the eagle on the back cover. The title track is mostly slow-paced with a raw guitar and airy synths/piano in the background. Once again, Thorkraft makes great use of simple and repetitive yet effective riffing in combination with the atmospheric synth layer. Around the eight-minute mark the pace suddenly picks up for a while, inviting one to headbang, but soon it's back to the slow pace again. "Ausklang" is the departure - the dawn is soon to come and the landscape will become dark. In this track the synth melodies are sad and distant.
Relaxing ambient/black metal, does such a thing exist? After having heard this my answer is: yes, absolutely. As strange as it sounds to put the word "relaxing" in the same sentence with "black metal", here it can be done without anyone even raising an eyebrow. Everything comes together here, the concept, the artwork and the feel of the music. Grand visions and freedom of the mind. At best, "Astralwinter" will help you find your Zen.

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