5 Heavy metal suggestions for the winter

It's that time of year again, Steemians, time of soft blankets, hot drinks that warm the soul and vast landscapes of snow-covered nature. I know for some regions of the Earth, climate change stays pretty much the same throughout the year and coming of the winter is not a big deal. Here, it brings the challenging, freezing weather and a picturesque, gloomy cities and forests.

I don't particularly enjoy harsh winter conditions and freezing cold wind in my face, but aesthetic side of it I love! Everything is so whimsical, the bonfires, family meals, gratitude... it brings people together with everyone craving warmth and connection.

If you have been following me for over a year, you might remember I had a series of posts where I suggested heavy metal bands that best fit the cold winter days. So since yesterday we finally saw snow here in Serbia, I felt like updating the list and maybe helping some of you out with the music choices.

If you find yourself

• taking a walk through the woods
• riding on an empty subway train or driving late at night
• about to curl up under lots of blankets with a hot chocolate and a good fantasy book or Lord of the Rings movie

then check out some of these.

Wintersun

For anyone who knows me at all, this is an obvious first choice. Wintersun is a Finnish melodic death metal band formed by mastermind and multi-instrumentalist Jari Mäenpää. Jari is referred to in the metal circles as the Mozart of our time. His vision, technical knowledge and incredible talent to create deep, emotional and melancholic melodies puts Wintersun on another level compare to other bands.

Wintersun combines lots of different influences in their music including traditional Scandinavian folk melodies, mix of fast and slow, highly technical riffs and both harsh and clean vocals. Their lyrics are mostly influenced by themes like winter, sorrow, stars, universe and time, nature and so on.

Latest release, The Forest Seasons, is their version of Vivaldi's Four seasons - four tracks, each representing different seasons, completely unique, but flowing together perfectly. Here is one of them.

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Agalloch

Agalloch was an atmospheric black metal band from Portland, Oregon formed in 1995. Their music combines a lot of different styles like black metal, acoustic folk and post rock that fit together perfectly forming such a unique sound.

Their music is hard to properly describe - it's not about heavy riffs, acoustic guitars and harsh vocals, it's about atmosphere and emotion. Best way to enjoy it is not to listen, but feel it and surrender.

They put their heart and soul into every song and it's easy to relate to the melancholic ambient and emotional lyrics singing about nature, man and death. Otherworldly atmosphere makes you feel like you are in a misty forest, surrendering to nature's cold embrace.

Here at the edge of this world
Here I gaze at a pantheon of oak, a citadel of stone
If this grand panorama before me is what you call God
Then God is not dead

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Ensiferum

Ensiferum is a melodic death/folk metal (or as they sometimes call themselves Heroic metal) band from Finland. They are a true representation of viking metal (Ensiferum - sword bearer), with fast, energetic guitar riffs and harsh vocals, but also melancholic and catchy melodies influenced by traditional Finnish folk.

Epic is the best way to describe them. Lyrical themes include topics like battles and warriors, mythology and heathenism and sorrows of ancient wanderers in search of their place under the sun.

Jari from above mentioned Wintersun was a member on the first two albums so you know you are in for a treat.

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Alcest

Alcest is a post rock/shoegaze band from France founded in 2000 by talented multi-instrumentalist Neige. In it's beginning, band had a lot of black metal influences, but later moved away from it by crafting light post rock and ambient sounds.

As a child, Neige had vivid dreams about this far off fantasy wonderland full of beautiful colors and celestial sounds. A lot of his music is made as an adaption of this magical experience. In an interview for spin magazine Neige said:

"It’s a band I created in order to translate into music a very special experience that happened to me when I was a child — something very spiritual and difficult to describe. Music can describe it better than words. There is a lot of hope, a lot of nostalgia, something very uplifting and spiritual, these otherworldly melodies. I do this music precisely to not have to speak about what is behind the music. I just make this music, and it’s coming from the deepest parts of myself. It’s almost subconscious."

And that's exactly what their music does - it teleports the listener into this, at times scary, but mostly magical fairy land.

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Summoning

Imagine yourself on a misty mountain, marching across the fields on your way to Mordor. Screams of nazguls and orcs are echoing in the distance sending shivers down your spine. This is pretty much Summoning. If you are a fan of epic fantasy and Middle Earth and you don't mind hearing vocals that sound like Morgoth himself, then this is a band for you. But it's a long shot because this is pretty harsh and it may force you to leave your comfort zone.

The band (duo) is from Austria and are pioneers of this epic/atmospheric black metal genre influencing a lot of similar bands to follow their style and create similar atmosphere.

Their main lyrical inspiration as you may guess comes from Tolkien's Middle Earth writings. So you'll hear songs about rings of power, Khazad-dum and battles and adventures of that time.

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Thanks for reading and let me know if you checked some of these out! If you enjoyed the post, you are welcome to upvote, comment and resteem it. Also make sure to follow @alcibiades so you don't miss my future posts.