Fellwinter – “Writ Black In Blood of Fallen Angels” (Blood & Crescent) Review

Taurus really has black metal fans in his grip, releasing an album or 2 a year with 4 projects on his own label Blood And Crescent.  (Fellwinter, Gauntlet Ring, Atheosophia, Arbor) Their releases sell out instantly and tend to immediately command big bucks on the secondary market. In some of the early reviews I’ve seen, Writ Black In Blood of Fallen Angels seems to be the most divisive B&C release yet. Fans seem to be split on they feel about the band exploring new ideas and adding some new sounds to their arsenal.  On this release Taurus adds a flautist called Aušra on most compositions as well as some acoustic, clean channel guitar, and melancholy post metal-ish parts in places. The flute adds a whole new dimension to the band’s sound by including a primitive medieval folk melody that compliments the furious guitar and grim vocals nicely.  It pushes the band and the genre into new and innovative territory, but you better believe Taurus didn’t abandon the triumphant, tremolo-heavy melodies.  The riffs on this album are menacing and icy while also being beautifully glorious simultaneously. I absolutely love albums that can nail that kind of juxtaposition and this one does not disappoint.  This album is quite excellent from start to finish which was not what I expected I was going to get, especially on a 60 minute 2xLP. 

 I’d imagine there would be some filler, or maybe just some edits that would have benefited the album, but that’s not my opinion here at all. It is a big step forward creatively from the self-titled album that came out earlier this year and that album wasn’t bad.  It was simpler and had a more synth heavy and hypnotic vibe with less variation and less successful production overall in my opinion.  Writ still has some of the same spooky synth parts and more atmospheric sections that remind me of Summoning and Drudkh at times.  The beginning of Black Sun Eclipse almost sounds like an early Alcest song that then transitions into full raw punk as fuck black metal glory.  The third track Nocturne goes from medieval Jethro Tull to one of the sickest tremolo riffs I’ve heard and it works fantastically.  The closing track Melancholy Vision of Black Moonlight is a stunner that harkens back to the furious triumphant songs on The Dawn of Winter (2023). This project and this album are obviously steeped in the classics like Darkthrone, Judas Iscariot, Immortal etc.  that I think most black metal fans will appreciate but it’s also forging its own unique path and sound more than ever.  I highly recommend checking it out.