Winter
Fire Rider

As it is wintery and snow outside, I guess it could be wise to review the artist Winter with the most recent album Fire Rider. The cover might be inspired by Ghost Rider with that burning motorcyclist, it isn’t really a great cover as little as the Ghost Rider was a great movie. Behind the Winter moniker hides a guy known as Markus Winter, who is the main force of the quartet that are listed as recording artists of this album. It is also a long album with a whopping sixteen tracks, not really a one vinyl release if I say so.

It is gothic metal; it was either that or traditional blues rock judging by the cover. It is according to format, and I could compare with known artists both in terms of style and vocalist. There aren’t any surprises through the sixteen tracks, but rather the typical songs that the gothic style offers, the deep vocals, some slowish catchiness that we have heard from HIM, Paradise Lost, or whatever other name you would like to drop in there. I don’t think I exaggerate when I state that there are no surprises or original ideas on this album, neither is it much in terms of variation. It is a long album, and it feels like a long album.

You could say that you get a lot of music for your money, but is it really quantity you want? I want something more than that, quality rather than quantity. There is some quality over the sixteen tracks on Fire Rider, but it is too little to impress, and it rather becomes islands of quality rather than something great overall. I doubt anyone will think Winter stands out over the rest of the artists within this genre, Fire Rider is a generic album for this genre that is terrific in its best moments, it is too bad that Fire Riders isn’t one of those moments.

I place this one in the forgettable bracket, it is an album of mostly forgettable songs. Not bad, not great, not really anything, and that makes it an album that I in good consciousness can recommend that you overlook. Winter needs to do a lot better if he wants his music to be played in my ride.

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