Tyakrah are a German black metal band and this is their debut album.
Tyakrah offer up 37 minutes of black metal. Their musical vision is raw and harsh, but not without its atmospheric moments. Melodic and depressive aspects of the blackened style can be heard in this epic music too.
Wintergedanken is imbued with the chill of the mountains and a bleak, wintry core. With music that feels as cold as the album album cover looks, this is a collection of songs that can freeze the listener on sight.
Tyakrah have created a multifaceted beast here. They successfully merge the Cascadian atmospheric style with the Norwegian traditional one, mixing in a decent amount of depressive black metal as they do this. Unusually though, the band also manage to incorporate a classic rock/metal feel to parts of the writing, which mainly manifests in the lead guitar work.
This is an aspect of the songs on Wintergedanken that I particularly enjoy. The classic rock/metal influence in the leads and solos adds a certain something special to the frozen music; splashes of colour across the largely dark, icy delivery. Keyboards and piano add occasional highlights here and there, but it’s these lead guitar parts that are the stars of the show in many ways. Whether they consist of blistering solos or engaging melodies, the band’s guitarist clearly knows his way around a fretboard.
An enjoyable and satisfying slab of chiefly icy black metal, replete with some unexpected depressive moments and red-hot solos.
Recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 