By Andrew Bansal
With the release of their 2015 debut full-length album ‘As Darkness Falls’, Florida quartet Winter Calling staked their claim in the burgeoning progressive rock/metal world, and quickly following up to the first set of tunes, they unveiled their sophomore effort in August 2016, a concept album called ‘Faces’ that attempts to present the musicality of this group in a storytelling format. Countless bands have released concept albums over the years, many succeeding to stamp theirs as timeless classics, others failing to convey their point across in a concise manner. It remained to be seen where this audacious venture from this new band would end up.
The 9-track album begins in a manner as epic as it possibly could have, with the opening track ‘Disorder’ presenting some excellent orchestral/symphonic keyboard arrangements that accompany the vocals and traditional rock instruments perfectly, and the slowly building 6-minute composition gradually garners the listener’s interest towards the track itself as well as the remainder of the album. ‘Not Like You’ keeps the dark, melodic vibe intact but gets heavier, and features a guest solo by John Wesley of Porcupine Tree fame, who injects his class into the song. With tracks like ‘The Tower’, ‘Follow Me Down’ and ‘Truth From A Lie’, the album keeps gaining momentum, gets more and more intense, and the freedom of musical expression takes over to greater effect with every passing song. From that point on, the album gets darker, slower and more melancholic through the tracks ‘Still Hold On’, ‘A New Me A Few Me’, ‘A Different Tune’ and ‘My Own Way’, as if winding down the musical story of ‘Faces’ to a downbeat conclusion.
The concept-based nature of ‘Faces’ succeeds in that it feels like a single piece of music rather than a collection of nine distinct tracks. The keyboard and piano parts form the backbone and dictate the flow of the mood, the guitar, bass and drums helping maintain the hard rock/metal element, and the vocals shining beautifully on top of it all, giving the album an operatic touch. The depressing nature of the music and lyrics makes it a mood-specific album, which isn’t a bad thing. Besides, the album cover is one of the most haunting and thought-provoking pieces of art seen in recent times, adding further impetus and genuineness to the concept. Winter Calling’s ‘Faces’ certainly deems them worthy of a listen for fans of Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Symphony X and the like.
A compelling musical story in every sense.
Rating: 8.5/10
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Release Date: August 5th 2016
Track Listing:
01. Disorder
02. Not Like You
03. The Tower
04. Follow Me Down
05. Truth from a Lie
06. Still Hold On
07. A New Me a Few Me
08. A Different Tune
09. My Own Way
Winter Calling links: website | facebook