So apparently this lot won the 2005 French Rock Hard Magazine contest and as a result got a record deal with Mascot Records. I wonder who the other bands were as this is a pretty mediocre release of solid but uninspiring, progressive, melodic death metal with a hint of thrash.

The sort of Death meets Dark Tranquillity meets Opeth combo appears a nice prospect on paper, but in practice the bands songwriting, while a mix of time changing choppy proggy death metal and more experimental elements delivered with a Gothenburg spit and polish as occasional light dark contrasts is well executed, but it’s far from memorable and the styles battling for attention is ultimately too much.

However, I’ve heard far worse, and Winds of Torment are solid musicians, especially drummer Jean Francois but the skill never translates into anything more than an album of well played filler with only a couple of tracks (i.e.“The Unstoppable Pact”, “Relentless Ignorance”, “Swallowing the Ashes of Guilt”) leaving any sort of lasting impression-a short one at that. And it’s no coincidence that those are two of the more varied, Opethian tracks with extended acoustics.

Delighting in Relentless Ignorance is your classic middle of the road, not bad, not great nameless, faceless album. It’s got enough skill and polish to maybe attract some attention in the short run but will ultimately be forgotten in a wash of mediocrity.

[Visit the band's website]

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