Winterbane

Winterbane, released on 23 April 2021, is the third album — and the record on which the band was reborn as something almost different. In January 2021 guitarist Talia Bellazecca, bassist Filippo Zavattari and drummer Alberto Mezzanotte all left at once: three of five. Giada “Jade” Etro and Federico Mondelli did not fold; they rebuilt with Fabiola “Sheena” Bellomo, Francesco Zof and Niso Tomasini. The opening “Embrace the Night” is a lump of pure energy, and the gallop of “The Lone Stranger” carries an echo of Iron Maiden. The advance track was “Far Beyond.” On track seven, “Angels in Disguise,” Federica Lanna of Volturian — Mondelli's other band — guests on a duet. Track eight is a cover of Judas Priest's “Night Crawler,” and the nearly nine-minute “Blood on the Snow” closes it out. The weight leans further toward death metal, which divided opinion, but this line-up would become the band's foundation. Mondelli has said the impetus for that heaviness came from Abbath of Immortal.