The Battles Of Winter

The story of The Battles Of Winter seems like a relatively long and complex one for a band who are yet to release their debut album. Formed in London but now apparently "scattered far and wide", they've had their sound compared to Interpol, Echo & The Bunnymen, The National and The Doors. We can't argue too much with that lot, however, going of new single 'A Blackout For The Bloodsuckers' we'd have to add something a little more visceral, a little more fuzzy to the mix to paint a better picture. Maybe a more post-punk version of someone like Crocodiles would be a fitting addition, or maybe The Cult produced by A Place To Bury Strangers. They do have their own sound though, albeit one that's made up from parts of alternative rock music's expansive history. They also sound absolutely huge.

The album is to be called 'Standing At The Floodgates', and just to spread their story a little further, it's being released by the dependable Irish label Ruby Music, so somehow or other they've made it across that stretch of water, perhaps as they scattered far and wide... 'A Blackout For The Bloodsuckers' is a driving and thumping song that lets nothing stand in its way; this feels like a band who are full of confidence, and this may be the result of having had so long to gel and hone their sound. As with so much in the music world, luck will play its part. But should this song (or album, assuming the quality is of a similar level) get heard by some people in influential places, then there's no real reason why The Battles Of Winter can't become one of those names that future new bands will be compared to. - Sound of Confusion

Looking for new music means listening to a lot of stuff that all sounds the same – really, you sift through the mud searching for the gold. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great bands out there – but finding an artist or group that sounds different, well that’s really something. When you find it though, it makes it all worth it and The Battles of Winter really is ‘ it ’.

Post-punk – you might not all know what it means, but you’ll know the bands associated. We’re talking Joy Division, Billy Idol, Echo & The Bunnymen and in a more modern sense White Lies, The Vaccines and so on. It’s fast paced, punk influenced with pounding guitars and a strong rhythm section – it’s punk but less aggressive and more melodically experimental. It’s punk where you don’t get gobbed on in the front row.

The Battles of Winter put a refreshing modern twist on the post-punk genre, but they keep that raw frantic energy that makes you feel like you want to be in a big, sweaty pit of people with a common purpose – to have a good thrash about to the music.

A Blackout For The Bloodsuckers will be The Battles Of Winter’s first single, released through Irish independent label Ruby Music on January 27th; the first track from their forthcoming re-release of their album Standing At The Floodgates. The track begins bass-led and sparse but quickly builds up with drums, then lead guitars into a crescendo of well-balanced and well-controlled noise. The vocals are, fortunately, mature and perfectly matched for the genre – vocalist Alistair Gale was never going to be in a boy band with a voice like that.

A Blackout For the Bloodsuckers is joined only by one other track on the band’s social media spaces: Where Did You Get Those Fireworks? This is a tense, slow burner that develops over the first minute of the track and the vocals, when they arrive, are more Ian-baritone-Curtis than ever. As the track progresses, it’s clear that it’s all leading to something – you’re left waiting for the explosion, but don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed. The closing minute of the track sounds more like the Indie bands you might be used to – The Music or Bloc Party. This is certainly not to its detriment but is likely to improve its appeal to the masses for its hint of familiarity.

The appeal of The Battles of Winter is strong enough that not only have I enjoyed a track that is 5:50 in length – usually reserved by me for ‘the classics’ like Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody or Muse’s Knights of Cydonia – but I’ve also already tried to find them on iTunes in a bid to spend my hard-earned cash on their music. And if that isn’t enough of a recommendation then you are clearly above persuasion! - Awediohub

Though plagued with “derailments too numerous to mention”, London-based The Battles Of Winter have, after several years of self-reinvention, finally released their debut album 'Standing At the Floodgates'. Where lesser bands may have broken under the pressures that beset the recording process, the finished product here is an album that feels as coherent as it is concise. Though made up of only eight tracks, '...Floodgates' is a record in which their tenacity, paramount to said recording process, is palpable in each and every track, with the band exhibiting a sense of confidence and self-assurance that could only stem from overcoming the obstacles they've faced over the last few years.

Beginning with 'A Blackout for the Bloodsuckers', the opening to '...Floodgates' hits hard. A relentless rhythm section forms the majority of the track, driving it forward. Vocally, however, the track takes on a life of its own with Alistair Gale's vocals providing an idiosyncratic edge to both song, and band as a whole and while it might not be to everyone's taste, it adds a permanent layer of timbre to an already rich environment.

Tracks such as 'He Fell From Above and Hit the Rocks Below' exhibit a softer side to the band, demonstrating a sound knowledge of both tempo and dynamic changes within a single track, whereas 'My Friend the Scapegoat' chugs along with a Fugazi-like bassline in what is an unsettling track, off kilter and at times foreboding. Paradoxically though, '...Scapegoat' also exhibits an optimistic side, at least throughout the first half, brought on by sparse, major-key guitar licks. All that is blown out of the water, however, after a brooding mid-song lull that rises towards a cacophonous conclusion.

Going out with a bang, 'Standing At the Floodgates' closes with the Pink Floyd-esque 'I Became A Station'. It Is an ambitious track, and one which relishes in its own personal sense of anthemics. The production on it is fantastic too, as is the case across the board, and it's evident that the years in which '...Floodgates' has been in the making, all the scrapped tracks and man hours put in to the sessions, haven't been in vain.

The Battles Of Winter are band with a big sound and big ambitions, and their debut feels like the first stages on the road to becoming something huge. As it stands, it's not a perfect record seeming fairly short for a debut album, however what is there is rich with grand ideas and a great understanding of musical composition that will surely evolve in to something fuller still as the band grow with it. - Little Indie Blogs