news

apparently we are only 2 people left in the band...back in 2007 I started with Lankraf and now we are again the only members in the band. as we prepare a live show for GoG at the moment, there will not be much going on in Winterblast for some time but we have both agreed that we would like to record the songs for the album when it's possible. I will learn the songs on the guitar and if this is done, the recording process won't be too long. I think that we can throw away the previous recordings because the sound should be the same on all songs. as Lankraf is too occupied with GoG, which is also the project that will most likely get more offers for live shows in the near future, we will finish the album sometimes when we both have enough time to worry about.

fucked up

unfortunately there is not enough time for me to work on the Winterblast recordings at the moment...as Lankraf plays now live for Garden of Grief, we are practising the songs for the upcoming show in summer. the problem that I have with Winterblast is that I can't play most of the songs myself on the guitar, so I can't just record the rest of the songs when I have a few spare hours some day. maybe if I get better, we can quickly finish that first album. I would like to write songs then, which I can play on the bass live and do the vocals at the same time (which is also not possible for me at the moment). However, I will not try and recruit new members for Winterblast anytime soon, because I intend to play possible shows in the future either on the bass or the guitar myself but with the old songs this is not possible for me at the moment because they are far too hard for me to sing at the same time. either way, I have to improve my own skills to keep the band going for to help in the guitar recordings is beyond my imagination and to play bass and sing live is also too difficult. I will probably focus on Garden of Grief for a while until I'm able to handle the Winterblast songs on all instruments.

new recording session

today we have finished another recording session, this time for "Arcane Inferno" which will be the title track of the album. drums, synths and the first guitar is already finished. we have also recorded the first guitar for "Über den Pass des Wahnsinns" last week. next week we will record the guitar for "Illusions of Clarity" and then I'm on holiday...

If we can continue that fast, we will probably be able to record all songs until october. I'm quite sure that I can handle the bass in time - 2 songs are already possible - and that we learn the two other songs we have not tried to play so far. maybe these 2 songs might take a bit longer because they are also the most difficult ones. or maybe they just seem so until we have tried.

It might take some weeks until we can upload one of the new songs on myspace because the second guitar and the bass is still missing as well as the vocals. I'll keep you informed...

video on youtubei

I have just uploaded a video on youtube...just a few pictures, album artwork and such stuff and of course: music

recording the album

we are currently working on the recording of the album. actually we wanted to do that much earlier but according to some problems the start of this process has been postponed far too often. I suppose we will be finished with recording in autum or winter...but you never know. work with Winterblast is never as fast as the work on my own project because we are three people and have to find dates for recording where everyone has enough time.

the first song "The Empyreal Abyss" is already on the myspace page of Winterblast and also in the player on my GoG profile on myspace. new songs will follow soon!

I will play the bass on the upcoming album and will also most likely be responsible for that in upcoming shows...no more need for a bass player now, better to keep the number of members low. there is also no more need for a drummer at the moment.

new line-up and demo song

ok here are some news:

Winterblast current Line-up is

Sturmfels - Vocals, Drums, Synths/Programming

Lankraf - Guitars

Boris - Guitars

...Paddi and Großherzog Goldhaar are no longer part of the band.

Lankraf and I have recorded a demo version of "The Empyreal Abyss", me playing the left guitar instead of Boris and Lankraf the right one. Boris will record guitars for the other demo tracks and afterwards for the album - this was just a test now.

You can download the song on our lastfm site and it's also available on myspace! 

Though the recording process will be no problem for Winterblast now, we are still looking for someone to play the bass and synths on stage. We would not be able to perform live if we were only 3 people...well, and if anyone wants to play the drums live for Winterblast feel free to contact me. I'd say either drums or synths may be played from the computer on stage but definitely not both.

Check myspace and my blog for further updates! You might also have a look at the pages related to Garden of Grief - a new album is to be released soon! 

new media!

our last show has been filmed! the videos are on youtube, visit the channel of our guitarist Lankraf.

Lankraf's Channel

furthermore I'm currently updating our homepage, exchange parts of the design and upload new pics and stuff. should be finished soon

Winterblast LIVE 4.9.2009

finally we play our first show with two guitars. after boris had joined the band last year, we were busy learning the newer songs, but now we are able to return on stage!

the small things...

well...recording is much more work with winterblast than I had expected. it will take some time for all band members to learn the songs in a sufficient way for sure, so what we can do while learing new songs is simple: small shows with no effort at all, playing the songs we used to play at the last show and in addition to that some songs of Garden of Grief (because these are, while having a fine atmosphere, easy to lern for our guitarrists and to get the songs live on stage which would be not possible at all for GoG without session members at the moment)

shows will be arranged as soon as we have decided what to play, dates of upcoming shows will be posted here. the recording of our album should not be further postponed according to these activities...

a new home for a new project

I just made a new blog for Garden of Grief in order to not confuse Winterblast and the work on my project. on this blog I will post information about the Winterblast recordings and everything happening inbetween, and on the other blog you will find everything about Garden of Grief.

for further information on GoG visit: Garden of Grief's Blog

Garden of Grief

finally I have finished all the songs for my new project Garden of Grief. at least 2 of them I want to play myself on the guitar, still this will take some more time to learn according to my starting to play this very year...for the next time I will be busy in writing the missing lyrics to the songs.

the first recording, although the date of release could be some time ahead from now will contain the tracks:

1. Volunteer...(for Euthanasia)
2. Across the Plains of D'ara-Khun
3. Mourning the Fallen
4. Return to Na'Thaar Keep
5. The Horizon of my Dreams

total playing time will be approximately about one hour - enough worth listening to...
it seems to me that I could actually manage to learn the first 2 songs on the guitar with some effort, the other ones are yet far away from my skills by now as I suppose, so there has to be some assistance in dealing with those

Epilogue

What’s coming next? well in fact this question might concern my plans for the future as well as the story of the album which will continue for few episodes and then will be not the main theme of my lyrics for some time...

i recently started playing the guitar as well as ocarina...got no real use for the ocarina yet, but as I got this Garden of Grief project besides the band there's at least use for any guitar playing skills. some more practice and I will be able to play most of the parts of the GoG songs, so there could be also some records within the next year. as GoG ist not really supposed to be a live act, there could be some songs appearing in one Winterblast show or another, or maybe smaller sessions with minimalistic arrangement of the songs - there is also the idea of cooperating with other people having such one-man projects and helping each other in performing live if necessary. first of all my skills in playing the guitar have to be improved, then we will see...

so what happens to the main charcter of Arcane Inferno now? I considered putting a name to all things sometimes, not just leaving everything as an abstract landscape and characters with everything defined in detail except the character itsself...if I will do that sometimes, I have not decided yet, but the story will continue for sure (just for now its over after 3 or 4 songs following after Arcane Inferno). After Arcane Inferno there will be war on the plains of the wastelands. an ancient place of power has been deiscovered and different forces struggle to gain control over the mountain ridge under which there is the second "important" place besides the mystic vale...maybe I will write some songs about a second quest for the vale after those events, but I would rather stop the story after the war raging in the wastelands for this is actually the end of my concept by now. Still there is some idea deep within my mind...ah forget it...it’s time for war now...

final stage: arcane inferno of devastated dreams

so now the story has reached an interesting point: can the power of the avenger inflicted on the human soul solve all problems? for what we already know the avengers power is mainly a destructive one. in the end the quest of our hero is such that needs no use of force, if you would agree with me on that point. the entrance to the vale could be indeed opened by force, but we will see to that later (referring to the songs around "volcanic blood" and "thus the empire rises"...).

this is the last stage of the journey - I think it's best to give no details about this part of the story for everything can be found within the lyrics leaving no gaps to fill. in these last songs "Winterblast" and "Arcane Inferno" the album titel gets its qualification at last: the meaning of "loss" will be the main topic now.

“Winterblast” as the first full length song after the interlude “Freezing Hearts in Silent Storms” is not the fastest of the album, but surely the one which seems to be. a really cold and dark atmosphere prepares the way to downfall. “Arcane Inferno” afterwards represents the rush of conflicting emotions resulting from the events before. eventually this will lead to another attempt in bringing this damn life to an end. that long story just to die in the end? well the main character of this whole thing can’t be that poor-spiritied, can he? in fact the solution to this is the end of “Arcane Inferno” and also the end of the album...

ok now what tells us the story? besides some great deal of personal motivation there is this idea of what the worth of life itsself can be. as long as life is all nice and funny this thought doesn't even spring to mind, but at the edge of sanity after all important things in life have vanished there is plenty of time to think about what keeps one from dying yet. so after defining the reason to keep on living, what happens if this reason also disappears? that's the point where we get befor the final song of the album. what happens then is a tricky thing - the option of just living implies indifference towards what happens to yourself and everything around, because otherwise there would be only death as an temptation. so as cowardice is not the right way as I would say, there has to be the thought of what to do when you have no reason to live but at the same time chose not to commit suicide. I won't give further information about what the intention behind this story is for with the plot already told you can all use your wits and guess what all the details not mentioned here and in the posts before are all about. the whole concept is far beyond just telling a story - indeed a wierd one but still something that can happen to anyone of us. I won't steal the act of thinking from all of you before anyone had even a chance to listen to the album, I just would rather provide a short summary of the plot than have everyone interprete the lyrics in a completely wrong way...

...according to latest information I think we would have to postpone the release of the album to late october or november 2009, but organizing the next shows earlyier than expected. Winterblast could be on stage again in summer if nothing of cosmic importance crosses our plans...

of power and how to use it

the avenger returns and reannounces his offering...the trade of absolute commitment against outerworldy powers. again the same high price for the small chance of regaining control of events, yet the situation is a different one. desperation influences the decision in a positive way - the offering is accepted.

the character gains some of the power the spirit provides - instead of all problems becoming solved instantly, the avenger just turns him into a new being, not entirely human anymore, yet still without any major physical changes visible. simultanuously the view of things changes and the aims vanish in a blur of emotions, most of them of aggressive nature. not bound anymore to human morals all the hate and frustration erupts like lava from a volcano - utter destruction is spread over the land, without any target burning everything to dust. the avenger is gone and the pact is sealed - the price of power was just power itsself...

just as the first part of Unholy Avenger "Tempest from the Past" shows the events from the avenger's point of view, not the main character's. by the end of the song our hero stands between the ruins of the world he knew, still in search of the mystic vale and his lost love...no progress at all in any task. all that the powers have brought was the disabling of every sense of humanity and in addition to that a mere bonus of being able to blast everything out of the way what might seem inappropriate. combined with all the desperation and of course anger for the reason of not regaining control over the situation, the awareness of strenght leads to heedless use of all powers resulting in an inferno of unseen dimension. as the first fit of rage is over, it's time to recollect what is left and continue the struggle. still there's someone to be found and a paradise to be regained - no problem with the blood of a demigod running through your veins, isn't it? we will see...

illusions of life and death

a question: do you know that you are alive? if so, what makes you believe that this is a fact? some of you will say "of course do I know!" but what proof do you have since no one knows what death is like? considering this statement the story gets a weird touch for the next song "Illusions of Clarity" could be seen as the death of the character...or just a vision of death, a lucid dream, realistic enough to drain the last whit of wit still left by now. the difference of those possibilities seems quite big, beeing already dead or just the experiance of dying while staying alive. but as the story continues it will become a nicety which is just something to ponder on while not being essential for the whole plot. between dreams and visions it might actually be possible that our character would not notice his own death, so in this case the story (after "Illusions of Clarity") would be completely set in afterlife being just another illusion.

nevertheless the story will indeed continue no matter how one interpretes the lyrics of Illusion of Clarity. the following part is a exclusively epic one. "Visions" is a song to take you away somewhere, far enough to forget such nuissances as matters of life and death or even less crucial things. with only few faster parts breaking the tranquility, the 15 minutes of "Visions" represent exactly what the song is all about. dreaming between the worlds there is no need for profane thoughts. the philosophic approach to all problems that have yet to be solved takes its time and its toll...fatalism and apathy would eventually be the outcome. the thought of reality being not real enough to be worth any effort makes you believe that nothing you do is of major importance anymore. therefore the insight gained in this state of mind might prove not that purposeful as suspected. but still the target is locked and the quest continues. as our hero focuses again on the tasks ahead, the avenger offers his help once more...