Dawn & Dusk Entwined’s album “Remergence” was pretty good, so I was pleased to hear that this French act recorded more material in that period. Athanor has released a 6-track 10″, limited to 350 copies. The tracks on this EP follow the same lines as the preceding album, meaning a combination of martial bombastic tracks and atmospheric neoclassical / ambient soundscapes.
As a whole “A harvest of winds” seems to be slightly more tranquil than “Emergence”. An exception is the uptempo ‘She came from the east’, a nice catchy piece almost reminding of the military pop style of Dernière Volonté. The tracks on this EP are unreleased, except for the martial track ‘Sacrifice For Purity’, which is present here in an alternate version, with different vocals and ‘The Awaker’, which was also included on the Codreanu tribute album.
‘False mercury’ is a tranquil piece, with ethereal keyboard and piano melodies, whisperen spoken vocals and speech samples. ‘The awaker’ starts a dreamy minimal soundscape, with a soft spoken female voice and sounds of stormy weather in the background. Halfway the song turns into a threatening song with melodic male vocals, monotonous drums and a warlike atmosphere. ‘Along the plains’ follows this line, further adorned by trumpet sounds. The EP is ended with an elegant neo-classical hymn with spoken wotrds called ‘When my breath turns to haze’.
I find “A harvest of winds” a very enjoyable EP, which is a nice companion to the “Remergence” album. Coming later his year will be another 10″ vinyl release on Eternal Soul Records.
