Although released back in 2009, this release is still being actively promoted in 2012, so a review in January 2012 is definitely still relevant and not entirely out of place.
Hailing from Heraklion on the sunny Greek island of Crete, Winter Crescent's music is perhaps surprisingly dark, but this dark feel is one of the many positive features of this quite expressive EP, which contains a three part suite in the form of the three 'Battle of Egos'-tracks and then four more independent songs. The tunes on Battle of Egos fall firmly under the rubric of progressive metal and feature many of the traits of that genre, such as odd time signatures and complex song structures, but, still, the EP as a whole is refreshingly accessible, and, in that, respect it can be compared to Queensr˙che's highly accessible brand of progressive metal from their heyday in the 80s and early 90s. Musically, however, I find that Battle of Egos is closer to the likes of Psychotic Waltz and Fates Warning... without being a rip-off, of course.
Making use of fluid midrange vocals, groovy riffs, references to power metal, guitar harmonies, acoustic guitars combined with distorted guitar leads, odd time signatures every now and then, more classic metal riffage and so on, Winter Crescent have created a quite broad and varied release in Battle of Egos, but at the same time, the EP comes across very focused and very coherent.
the production might come across as a bit raw and unpolished, but that does not really detract from the joy of listening to the music itself; in away, the unpolished production can even be argued to be refreshing against the background of a genre that otherwise makes use of squaky clean and polished productions.
Battle of Egos is a work of tasty accessible metal music which is still progressive and sophisticated. This is definitely metal music for the thinking person, and if you are a thinking person, who also likes Fates Warning and Psychotic Waltz, you owe it to yourself to check out this EP.
Track listing:
1. Battle of Egos Intro
2. Battle of Egos Part I
3. Battle of Egos Part II
4. Furrow
5. My Last Will
6. Winter Crescent
7. Lost in Dreams
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