Review: Lethvm – Winterreise
Lethvm give the listener a daring, frostbitten experiment in atmosphere and aggression, a record that shifts between lurching doom, blackened edges, post-metal breadth, and occasional post-hardcore unrest. “Winterreise” doesn’t always land every twist, but many of its risks sing in the silent cold it carves out.
Right from “Blank,” there’s a foreboding weight, the opener’s lurch and crunch feel creepy, foretelling the darker passages to come. The band lean into that, pushing tension and quiet unease as much as sheer heaviness. The album’s strength lies in how it lets space breathe, how it places soft vocal moments or clean passages against crushing walls of sound, and how vocal shifts can shatter calm or underline despair. There are moments of genuine “chaotic magic,” especially in songs like “Carved,” where shrieks pierce deeply and the band dig into their most unhinged impulses.
Yet the flaws resonate: the clean vocals or midrange singing occasionally feel flat, especially when the dynamics around them grow more daring. Some of the later songs like “Mournful” or “Night”, seem to lose momentum, lacking the spark or tension of the earlier songs. The transition from heavy to soft sometimes feels telegraphed rather than sudden, diminishing surprise. Also, though the themes of anger, solitude and melancholy are deeply felt, the pacing sags slightly after the halfway mark: too much of the same texture without enough contrast to keep the tension fully taut.
Production is generally strong. The mix allows both the crushing and the subtle to be heard; the guitar distortion snarls without obliterating nuance, and the atmosphere is palpable. The quiet moments are well placed, the transitions between clean vocals and screams are sometimes jolting but usually effective.
Still, even with those wobbles “Winterreise” holds strong. The band succeed in making doom feel disturbing, in weaving in blackened texture without turning the record into pastiche. The emotional ambition shows. The risk taking is palpable. I admire that more than I balk at the weak moments. In sum, “Winterreise” is uneven, but potent and in the enda journey worth undertaking for those willing to feel the cold reach inside.
