Album Review: Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Doom soothsayers Windhand open with eight-minute Two Urns, a death march dirge that floats like a forceful funereal comedown.

The band's penchant for decimation is strongly honed here - from the psych sprawl of Forest Clouds to the behemoth Hesperus - and frontwoman Dorthia Cottrell has never sounded more authoritative and charismatic. There are moments of subtlety and restraint too - Sparrow and Aition take a pagan folk route, though the lyrics are just as headily apocalyptic - while even the blown-out doom of Tanngrisnir is flowing with finesse and melody. Windhand prove that metal can soothe as much as scorch.