There’s nowhere like Germany in winter time. The forests, the castles, the markets and the gluhwein all offer solace for the wandering winter soul. Let’s take a trip to Bavaria then as Müncheners Waldgeflüster return with eight new folk-drenched black metal eyries to melt the coldest of hearts. The entire album is perfectly pitched to fuel those crystalline winter, woodland walks with its immensely infectious melodies and haunting refrains. Averaging an album every couple of years or so since their 2009 album, Mondscheinsonaten (“Moonlight Sonatas”) builds strongly on the band’s heathen foundations, melding clean and harsh vocals seamlessly and integrating folk instrumentation sparsely enough to augment, but never over-embellish the exceptional blackened metal grounding. It’s time to dig out the walking boots, grab a compass and a good pair of headphones and head out to experience a little slice of wilderness before it is gone forever. Let Waldgeflüster be your guides.