As Winter Falls - Road to Nowhere
Road to Nowhere
CD Info
2012
Unsigned
5 Tracks
English Lyrics
I have been a fan of music for as long as I can remember, and in my 40 years of life, have discovered some great music along the way. Not only great music, but great people that make this music. Some of these great people make up the Slovenian quartet, As Winter Falls. They are a rock band that was started in 2010 by Jasmina Loraz on vocals and Samo Mrak, who is the drummer and also does the male vocals. Jasmina has earned the nick name "Jazzy" by me because her vocal style is cool and smooth like jazzy butter on toast, and it warms your ears and heart with ever note. Samo not only plays the drums with skilled mastery, but also sings backing vocals on a few songs. Their upcoming EP, which will be released on March 31st of 2012 in "hard" CD form will also be available as a free download on their website. It is this EP, entitled Road To Nowhere, that I wanted to tell you about.
As soon as one pushes the play button, the ears are greeted with an intro that has a military style snare drum rhythm and some cool keyboard parts that lead into the first track called "What Lies Beneath". This song starts off with a rock crunch on the guitar that Rok Kovancevic lives up to his name with, because it does indeed rock. Then, Samo does the 4 count and this song explodes into pure rock mayhem. We are greeted by a cool break with just Jasmina singing and a nice keyboard accompaniment, and the rest of the verse is where the brothers Kovancevic and Samo rock it while Jasmina swoons us with her lyrics. The bridge is where I did the most head banging because it is riddled with heavy riffs and demands that your neck swing your head to the max. This song may not be for you though because it could cost you a neck injury for sure.
"Just Follow" is the next track on the EP, and I have to admit that it was not one of my favorites. It sounds almost monotone in nature throughout the song with its 2 chord progression at the start, and this sets the mood for the rest of the song.Marko Duplišak from a well known Slovenian metal band LastDayHere steals the spotlight on this tune and does a good job at it. The bridge of the song is where things get interesting with some male grunting and a heavy breakdown then more monotones. I would have loved to have heard a rocking solo of some kind included here because the build up for the break was awesome and then nothing. Kind of a let down. This song is full of hits and misses, and I feel that if it is remixed later at some point, it could be a signature song for the band.
"Lifetime" is a piano ballad and showcases Jasmina's vocal ability to translate emotions. Smooth and lonely, this song is a tear magnet for anyone who has felt loss. Jasmina loves animals and she knows what it feels like to lose a dear pet family member, and she translates that pain very well in this song.
Then we come to the final track on the EP, which is also the title track called "Road to Nowhere". Good composition with dramatic riffs and vocals make this the gem of the EP. And we finally have a guitar solo to boot. Nice use of keyboard loops underneath the guitar is a strong point with excellent guitar picking by Rok. I would have like to have heard Zan's bass playing mixed a little louder to give it a nice bottom sound. Jasmina shows us her chops on this song too, but her full range and classical training is not represented well on this EP. I believe when we get a full album from As Winter Falls then Jasmina will truly shine. Samo also stands out with his rim shots and drum fills. It is a complete band effort on this one, with only some room for overall mixing improvement. But nonetheless, this song is what the band is all about. Overall, As Winter Falls show us that they have great potential with this EP and with a little bit of fine-tuning to be done, they will be head down the road to success instead.
8 / 10
