WINTERFYLLETH: New Album this Fall

Formed in 2007 with the intention of honouring England’s rich culture and heritage, Winterfylleth set a solidified mission statement to bring awareness to England’s historical stories, folklore, landscapes and ancestral past through their impassioned black metal.

Winterfylleth (which translates into Winter Full Moon from the Old English language) represents the first full moon in October as well as the Anglo-Saxon festival of the arrival of winter. With their “Rising of the Winter Full Moon” demo, they generated a massive response in the underground, causing them to be signed up by Profound Lore Records. Rising of the Winter Full Moon displayed a fierce focused vision of what Winterfylleth wanted to achieve through their music, and with their “The Ghost of Heritage” debut (that was released on the Winterfylleth of 2008), this vision was realised.

With their music Winterfylleth conjure moods and emotions that range from vicious and violent to melodic and elegant. “The Ghost Of Heritage” signalled a new shift for the underground UK black metal scene, with Winterfylleth being considered by much of the music press to be one of the most distinct acts of this movement, gaining critical acclaim from the worlds music media, most notably of which was being voted in Unrestrained Magazines’ “25 Best Albums of 2008”.

Lyrically, the band delve into tales of England’s archaic history, re-counting major events, battles, the spiritual outlook of the people and the way they lived and even draw inspiration from certain sites and scenery that grace the countryside of England and have played an integral part in England’s history.

In 2009 Winterfylleth had some personnel changes and regrouped adding to their strong original line up of Naughton & Lucas. At the same time they signed to Candlelight Records to handle the release of their 2010 album “The Mercian Sphere”.

The release of ‘The Mercian Sphere’ signified a shift in the fortunes of English/British Black Metal, with the band being propelled to international status, and helping to push the envelope of British extreme metal to the rest of the world. ‘The Mercian Sphere’ received album of the month/issue in Terrorizer Magazine & in Zero Tolerance magazine (in which Winterfylleth featured on the cover), as well as rave reviews in Metal Hammer (9/10) and Kerrang Magazine (4/5Ks) and the rest of the global press. All of this culminated in the album being voted #20 in the “Top 40 Albums of 2010” in Terrorizer magazine.
Winterfylleth have since featured at a number of major festivals on the back of the successes of this album. Headlining a stage at Bloodstock 2010, as well as being invited to play Roadburn 2011 & Metal Camp 2011.

In April 2012 Winterfylleth went back into Foel Studio to record their third album ‘The Threnody of Triumph’, again with producer Chris Fielding.

2012 saw a short UK jaunt with Primordial and further ventures into Europe with invites to play Hellfest in France, Graspop Metal Meeting Festival in Belgium and Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. Winterfylleth were also invited back for another appearance at Bloodstock Festival in the UK.
On 17th/25th September ‘The Threnody of Triumph’ was released worldwide on Candlelight Records to critical acclaim. The 2xLP vinyl version was released soon afterwards on Back on Black Records. It received a 5/5 review in Kerrang! magazine and excellent reviews in Metal Hammer and Terrorizer magazines. The Threnody of Triumph was also voted number 15 in Terrorizer magazines top 50 albums of 2012 and the album was also voted number 12 in Kerrang! magazines top 101 albums of 2012.

Winterfylleth appeared at Damnation Festival in Leeds to a packed room in the UK on Saturday November 3rd 2012. Winterfylleth were also hand picked by their friends in Primordial to appear at the Irish bands own personal festival in Dublin Ireland, early in February 2013 entitled Redemption Festival alongside Primordial themselves and Solstafir.

In March/April 2013 Winterfylleth were honoured with an invite to tour Europe as main support to one of their major influences, Enslaved from Norway. Whilst on tour a fond friendship was forged between the two bands. The tour started in the UK and Ireland, then ventured to Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Poland. Winterfylleth were invited back to perform at Graspop Metal Meeting festival in Belgium in June of 2013, and in August of 2013 Winterfylleth also performed at Summer Breeze festival in Germany and also ArcTanGent festival in the UK.

In early 2014 Winterfylleth were invited to be a part of 2 releases with another major influence on the band. Season of Mist released a limited edition split LP between Drudkh and Winterfylleth as well as a traditional folk compilation curated by Drudkh mastermind Roman Sayenko entitled “One and All, Together, for Home”. This featured Winterfylleth alongside peers such as Drudkh and Primordial performing traditional songs from each of their respective cultures.

After performing at the inaugural edition of Temples Festival in May 2014, Winterfylleth ventured into the studio again to record the new album “The Divination of Antiquity”. Having moved from Foel Studios, Winterfylleth‘s producer Chris Fielding had since opened a new studio called Skyhammer. This is where Winterfylleth recorded “The Divination of Antiquity”. In the August of 2014 Winterfylleth performed at Bloodstock Festival in the UK. Winterfylleth headlined the first day of Candlefest at The Underworld in London on October 4th 2014. Winterfylleth also performed at the 10th anniversary edition of Damnation Festival at Leeds University Union on November 1st 2014. In the December of 2014 Winterfylleth headed out on tour in the UK and Ireland with Behemoth, Decapitated and Grand Magus. At the end of 2014 the band parted ways with guitarist Mark Wood.

The year of 2015 started with Winterfylleth on the cover of Terrorizer magazine. It was at this time that Winterfylleth welcomed long-time artwork collaborator Dan Capp into the band on guitar. In February 2015 Winterfylleth toured again with Primordial in the UK, and travelled to to Norway to perform at Blastfest in Bergen. Winterfylleth were honoured to win the “Best Underground Band” award at the 2015 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. 2015 also saw further performances at summer festivals such as Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium, Brutal Assault in the Czech Republic and Party San Open Air in Germany. In September 2015 Winterfylleth had an eight date headlining UK tour, and then in December of 2015 performed at Eindhoven Metal Meeting in the Netherlands.

Moving into 2016 the band European tour and festival appearances at Funkenflug Festival, they also moved into writing and recording a new album, ‘The Dark Hereafter’, the first for Spinefarm records

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Tags:  Winterfylleth, UK, English, Full Moon 

Sevine E. Levine    September 20, 2016