No Stars, Only Full Dark ultimately strikes me as a somewhat underwhelming affair, offset in large part by the valour of the aforementioned standout. Now, if only the rest of the album moved me that way. It's a perfect navigation between dynamics and repetition, cold atmosphere, beauty and whatever else a listener may choose to look for in the genre. Even disregarding the full album, "No More Entry, No More Exit" is a brilliantly crafted piece of atmospheric black metal, and one of the best demonstrations of a one-man black metal band's potential to amaze and emote. Even now that it's been quite sometime since first hearing of Windbruch, I cannot recall many times where an atmospheric black metal band drew me in so much with a single track. Ignoring the suspiciously odd phrasing of the title, I dove into a song and was immediately arrested by "No More Entry, No More Exit". Even if one-man atmospheric black metal bands have happened to be an all-too common trend in metal this side of the new millennium, Windbruch's latest album No Stars, Only Full Dark was recommended to me with telling enthusiasm.
I suffered little hesitation, then, when Windbruch were brought to my attention. Even the less impressive experiences I've had with them have been at least intriguing. The label's roster (and subsequent Bandcamp page) is a proverbial treasure trove of extreme and experimental music. Hypnotic Dirge Records is among the few labels I consider myself to be 'following', so to speak.
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