Winds are a Norwegian foursome who refuse to compromise on quality. This, their latest ornately progressive, black-edged metal/post-rock album took a full orchestra, multiple guest musicians and three years to complete.At nigh on an hour of playing time there's plenty of material to get your teeth into; if only said material had anything like as much longevity in potential plays. From the first run through it is apparent that the album lacks bite, dynamism or variation. Not one track seems to stand out, but instead, we are left hanging on to mere moments within a track that cause the imperceptible raising of an eyebrow. Soaring piano intros rudely garrotted by guitar-string, the jarring short passage of death metal vocal on 'The Grand Design', the weird glottal dub effects that open 'Distorted Dimensions', the delicate chiming riff at 2:00 on 'Fall And Rise' or the snatches of Spanish guitar on 'The Darkest Path' and 'The Last Line'. Other than these moments the dense music absorbs itself in a seemingly directionless meandering of drifting strings, emotion-filled vocals and yawning keyboards. Only the odd section of double-kick or frantic guitar lead pile in to prickle the senses.Repeated plays allow the listener to slowly untangle the compact instrumentation and immersion into each track becomes easier - it is quite a task to listen to the whole album at once and not feel overwhelmed so consumption in bite-sized chunks is certainly recommended. One track that instantly comes to mind is 'The Grand Design' which takes so many sharp turns that it's easy to imagine how it came to be titled so. Yet, despite it's apparent imperviousness, perseverence brings its own rewards. In contrast, the eloquent 'Where The Cold Winds Blow' conjures images of Norwegian fjords and mountains on a bad day and is much lighter and easier to digest.The lyrics throughout settle predictably on a dark, shadowy corner and refuse to emerge into a place where they can inspire or lift the music - "Walking the borders of heaven and hell / on a journey bound for the end of the earth". At times they even end up confusing themselves - "A world where survival hoped for in being / is not as prevalent as the means to exist". Despite all of the flaws mentioned there is no doubting the amount of technical ability on display, the consistency of vision that runs down the spine of this album like a ramrod, or the firm step towards a more metal sound. In fact, by battering the ears of the listener, Winds have allowed their music to become overtly obsessive, whole sections languishing too long in "the moment", and consequently tipping the scales from vibrant to dulled. 49%Winds on Myspace