J-Man The debut effort Kalamazoo's Winterus is one of those albums with lots of potential that is, unfortunately, left unfulfilled. In Carbon Mysticism has plenty of strengths, to be sure - the band's knack for crafting memorable riffs and dark atmospheres should easily grab the attention of most black metal fans, and their playing abilities should also impress the black metal community. Unfortunately, the fairly derivative sound and horrible production really drags down this album's appeal to the point where it's sub-par at best. Winterus shows plenty of potential on In Carbon Mysticism, but it will take even more ass-kicking until I'm fully convinced.

The music here is raw, old school black metal with a few touches of shoegaze/post rock. In Carbon Mysticism doesn't possess the most unique sound out there, but the band does have a knack for crafting some well-written songs and most of the tracks here are of at least decent quality. Winterus is also a group of pretty skillful musicians and, despite the unpolished playing techniques, it's clear that these guys know their instruments quite well. My main complaint lies in the generally terrible production, especially in the final three tracks - all of which were recorded live. The studio portion of In Carbon Mysticism sounds decent, but the live section is nearly unlistenable. Winterus would've benefited greatly from a more professional production here.

In Carbon Mysticism is generally a mixed bag. The compositions and musicianship are both fairly impressive, but the lack of originality and quality production really drags down my enjoyment. Black metal fans can definitely find better this year, even though I wouldn't consider this to be a bad album by any stretch. 2.5 stars are deserved for this mediocre debut effort. With a few kinks worked out, Winterus may have something genius up their sleeves next time around.