The first thing that interested me about Nuclear Winter is that they’re from Zimbabwe. I don’t know much about Zimbabwe, and I’ve never reviewed or even listened to a record from Zimbabwe, but I thought that maybe metal produced there would have some unique sounds and textures. I quickly found that not to be the case. Seagrave sounds like a thousand other European symphonic power metal-type records. There’s not a ton of info available on Nuclear Winter but I discovered that they’re a one-man-band helmed by Gary Stautmeister. Gary is clearly a talented and prolific guy to pull off three complex albums in three years. He piles layer upon layer of metal like a Damascus steel blade. There’s melo-death, industrial, synthwave, power metal and symphonic all forged into the mix. Impressively, Gary does a great job keeping the production sounding clean and heavy despite the sheer number of instruments and voices. Songs like “Pale Memories” where everything comes in at once could easily become muddy in lesser hands.
My sense is that Seagrave would be a great death metal record if you took out all backing vocals and symphonics. There are some pummeling riffs here. Opener, “The Glimmering Landscape” grabs you by the throat and drags you into the swirling ocean kicking and screaming. “Thy Shadows Fall” adds a little more groove to the riffage in classic death metal form. Unfortunately, these songs feel bogged down by all the ornamentation strewn upon them. I don’t need five layers of synthesizers aping the riff. It’s plenty chunky as it is. And I don’t need a choir repeating every line of the song. Stautmeister is a competent vocalist who can switch from deathly squeals and growls to clean, operatic vocals with Devin Townsend-like efficiency. The background choir only serves to distract. The band’s previous release, Graystone did a better job balancing these dynamics and using them to create impact. With Seagrave, I feel like I’m partaking of a massive buffet only to go away feeling stuffed rather than sated.
The most curious and compelling track on Seagrave is the cover of “House of Silence” by 80s German pop band Bad Boys Blue. I had never heard of Bad Boys Blue, but it seems they were Cologne’s answer to Duran Duran. The Nuclear Winter version of the song is the only place where the album slows down and catches its breath. It also displays Stautmeister’s ability to pile on instruments in an effective way that builds the song instead of drowning it. Seagrave has its moments but too often it feels waterlogged. The curious mix of Wintersun, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Rammstein sounds more compelling on paper than it does in reality. Where each of those bands has carved out their own sound, Nuclear Winter feels unready to commit. There’s a dark, gothic heaviness that is starting to form but the pieces still need to be assembled more effectively.
I fear this album attempts to appeal to a lot of different tastes without pleasing any of them. It feels like a step backwards from Greystone where the band was more economical with their influences and more restrained with their arrangements. Seagrave has plenty of atmosphere, but it comes at the expense of melody. As a result, many of the songs feel interchangeable. While the album is only 38 minutes, it feels like a three-hour tour. Stautmeister is a Captain Nemo-like mad genius but delivers a product that is, ahem, sub-par. Even though Seagrave checks many of the boxes that N00b_84 wants to hear, I’ll leave this one at the bottom of the ocean.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: MMD Records
Website: Facebook.com/NuclearWinterZim
Releases Worldwide: July 21st, 2023
