Although Windham Hell is typically labelled as a neoclassical shred metal project, it certainly gives the wrong connotation about what this band is all about. Although this two man partnership is now defunct, shredders Windham and Friesen made some pretty chilling music over a trilogy of albums, and while I did not always like where they went with their music, I always respected the vision and intent behind it. 'Window Of The Souls' is the second in the trilogy, and it is arguably the best of the three. The music here is undoubtedly neoclassical metal, but the style has been tweaked to the point where it might be best to call Windham Hell something else all together.
Much in the style of artists like Jason Becker or Yngiwe Malmsteen, Windham Hell's primary draw are from the great classical composers like Bach, as well as the virtuosic violinists who would lead their concertos. The style is largely characterized by playing compositions with a puritanical devotion to theory and scale. As one might imagine, the style is sometimes condemned for what some consider to be a one-dimensional attitude in the music; focusing on speed and technicality over feeling. Don't get me wrong, I do love hearing Becker or Malmsteen now and again, but I would agree that it often feels like a vessel for egotism rather than earnest musical expression. Windham Hell now brings a new article to shred metal that I do not think I have heard before from it; atmosphere.
Windham Hell is best described as neoclassical shred filtered through a dark filter of atmosphere, most readily associated with black metal. The soundscape is filled with reverb and ambience, and this is really where Windham Hell raises themselves up beyond just being another shred project. As is standard for this band's albums, 'Window Of Souls' also have ambient sections that use film dialogue from cult horror movies, and it fits in very well; parts towards the end gave me chills, and as far as ambience goes, the sections of quiet really add to the effect of the album. The metal aspects of the album are also the best you will hear from Windham Hell. Much of the guitar work is true to neoclassical metal, worshiping scales and paying tribute to much of Vivaldi's work. The closer 'The Last Of Summer' takes the theme from Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' and gives it a metal do-over; its nothing revolutionary or new, but it is done very well. There are scarce growls, but they are usually so drowned out in the mix that it feels unnecessary. This is not the only thing that feels a little flimsy in the recording. Although I cannot say I have heard a combination of styles like Windham Hell's before, it still suffers from a fairly amateurish sense of production. There are aspects here like the vocals that more or less fail at doing anything for the music, and this takes away from the brilliant effect that the original feel of this album creates.
Windham Hell won't likely be making any more music now that Eric Friesen has passed on, but this album is a great thing; a unique and chilling take on a genre that usually does not see anyone experimenting with it. 'Window Of Souls' is my favourite of the three records that Windham churned out, and best balances their metal aspects with the dark ambiance that dominates the quieter side of their nature.
The music of Windham Hell locates and depicts twisted realms of improbable beauty and unspeakable horrors - forbidden dimensions of thought that span dizzying heights and pummeling depths. This is the sonic topology of manifest chaos: dark sludgy tunnels of rhythm that burst in fits of mechanized percussion and frenetic leads, subjecting all those trapped inside to suspension over the void this music carves out and infects. Whatever sense of time or placement this music suggests is continually perverted by stylistic evocations that span from antiquity to ages pristine in their own nonexistence. In short, if you’ve got this album spinning you’re pretty far fucking away from Kansas.
Windham hell began in the mid-80s as Leland Windham’s solo project of Slayer/Bathory worship, and gradually lurched forward as he refined his craft. The recruitment of a local hobbyist guitar virtuoso named Eric Friesen and an immersion into the backward tales of David Lynch completed the threefold foundation of this band, with the third major facet stemming from the physical hell and mental solitude of rock climbing. The unlikely thematic filter Windham and Friesen pushed their vision through proved incredibly fruitful; although each album is of remarkable quality and consistency, this one is the only clear example of a stylistic middle ground the duo achieved, if for no reason other than its incidental role as the second installment of what became a trilogy.
Window of Souls begins with a brief instrumental that’s wrought from synths and hearkens to the mosaic of samples that is the outro of the previous album. The haunting and cyclic nature of what amounts to muffled columns of sound anticipates the rhythmic lexicon of this album: deep, heavily muted riffs that exhibit breadth through variations of speed rest between broad, distortion-soaked chords that buckle as an auditory hammock would in response to the sudden impact of adjunct melodies.
The introduction of those melodies – classically inspired solos of immediate infamy – juxtapose the sludge that bludgeons throughout. In fact, this element of Windham Hell’s sound provides something of a footing to analyze their approach in the first place, as frantic arpeggios ignite the precipice of incomprehensibly dense industrial-style riffs that serve as a rippling black slate to their twisted opuses.
Austere percussion strengthens a voice to tremolo picking otherwise lost in bass heavy riffs, and pierces that sound layer with a trebly snare assault that corresponds in a likeness of pace. On the other hand, growls as incomprehensible as they are infrequent bubble from the inferno at times, but tend either to play a role of low end tone cohesion or relative inconsequence. The cryptic lyrics seek to introduce tales of David Lynch, rock climbing, and solitude.
Perhaps the only prolonged nod to familiar ground lies in the three guitar-driven instrumentals: two covers from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” along with an original shred piece clearly inspired by his work as well as that of Paganini and Malmsteen. For the approximations necessary to complete these covers of well-known pieces it comes as a pleasant surprise that this duo seems entirely comfortable with the confines and complexities presented by the studio: acoustic segments are resilient with depth and clarity, and an impressive span of frequencies and track inputs gel extraordinarily well in a broad sense.
The riffs are more or less inconsequential as compared to the role they serve in most schools of metal. For Windham Hell the primary function of rhythm guitar is the establishment of a churning tone-floor from which leads soar to give some sense of relativity and narrative to songs as a whole. These aren’t throwaway riffs per se, but their purpose in the approach is clear, as very few escape a gestalt fate that’s designed to harbor solos which are considerably more memorable and effective to the end of driving each track forward. The standout riffs on this or any other WH album are either a prelude or rhythmic variation of the remarkable lead work - an exception that proves the rule.
The album ends with a bizarre soundscape of movie samples, take-twos, and whispering synths; each flares up in between tension brought about by periods of dead silence. While the lengthy and largely uneventful finale is by no means remarkable, it underscores the band’s influences as well as what it is they’re perverting and playing around with. It’s probably unnecessary, but certainly does not interfere with the rest of the rest of the album as it begins a few minutes after the final conventional track concludes.
Window of Souls is apparently difficult to track down these days, but it comes highly recommended. Do not hesitate to purchase the other two in response to the absence or quality of this one, as they are closely related and highly enjoyable because of it.
Enter Windham Hell.
Here is yet another in the long list of obscure underground metal projects that should have received far more attention and respect than they were given. Imagine the neoclassical instrumental style of Yngwie Malmsteen's debut album warped into something blacker, more mysterious, and at times meditative and you'll have something close to what Windham Hell accomplished on Window of Souls. Atmospherics, crunching riffs, and soaring melodies blend into a unique whole in a way that can be described as humble. Ultra-talented guitarists are often expected to steal the show, overwhelm the songs, and stroke their own ego while masturbating on their fretboards, but that is not the case here. Eric Friesen's style feels deliberate yet passionate and acts for the good of the song.
Vocals play a minimal role in the music of Windham Hell. Window of Souls is like a haunting instrumental dream that seems to take you to breathtaking vistas and across ethereal planes before you realize that this all takes place within the abyss of your own mind. On occasion, you'll hear a voice like the faceless intelligence behind the tapestry of this music. You fear that this intrusion may wake you from the greatest dream/nightmare/hallucination of your life, but the voice is gone before you can comprehend it. Maybe it was your own. Then the dream resumes control and you're carried back to the bizarre internal landscapes that you refused to see before now. Some listeners may find the songs to be meandering and aimless at times, but that is to be expected when hearing something that doesn't conform to predictable structures. This is the kind of music that is easier to understand after you've listened to it a few times in order to appreciate the identity of each song.
Windham Hell create such a desolate and alien atmosphere on Window of Souls, it's easy to forget that real people must have recorded this in a studio somewhere on this planet. When listening to this CD, you feel more like this music was willed into being instead of performed on instruments. Leland Windham and the late Eric Friesen were onto something monstrous and it's a shame that they didn't release more material. One can hear the atmospheric element of this music alive in the lofi black metal scene of today even if most of those bands are not in the same reality as Windham Hell in terms of musicianship and technical proficiency. Fans of bands as varied as Arcturus, Dawn, and Spiral Architect will also find something to like here.
Window of Souls is esoteric, horrifying, and transcendental, but words don't do it justice. The music of Windham Hell must be experienced in order to ascertain every nuance that blends together in order to create something this poignant. Definitely check this out if you're up for a challenge.