Age Of Silence and Winds

Any fans of these two bands here? Both are some pretty weird bands; avant-garde prog-metal, I guess you could call them. Lots of atmosphere, cellos, violin and piano work throughout both bands. But they're still pretty heavy. Winds and Age Of Silence feature members from some pretty well-known black metal bands—Mayhem, Arcturus, Khold, The Kovenant, Dimmu Borgir—and also two guys play in both bands, so they share a similarity in style. However, there is no black metal to be found here.

Solefald/Asmegin vocalist Lars Nedland sings for Age Of Silence, while Lars Eric Si (also known as Lars Eikind) sings for Winds. Eric Si also sings for Khold and the amazing Before The Dawn and Dawn Of Solace. Nedland has a very distinctive tone, one that often seems hard for people to get into. I personally think it's excellent, in a unique way. Eric Si has a more normal vocal tone, so Winds seems to be the band more people like.

Anyway, I think they're both killer bands, very unique, though they both are similar to each other. Winds has a new album coming out soon (featuring Dan Swano—whoohoo!), and the song is much heavier than I expected. This is what prompted me to post this. (Also because it's 4am and I need to stay awake until at least noon time, then sleep for 8 hours, then watch the UFC PPV with friends, then try and nap for an hour or two, then go to a fishing tournament at 4am Sunday morning! Ah, the life of a nightshifter. Haha!) So here are some samples below. Definitely give them a listen!

AGE OF SILENCE - THE CONCEPT OF HASTE (from Acceleration)
AGE OF SILENCE - THE IDEA OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE REASON WHY IT'S AUSTERE (from the Complications EP)

WINDS - REASON'S DESIRE (from Reflections Of The I)
WINDS - THE GENESIS OF FIREWORKS (from The Imaginary Direction Of Time)
WINDS - CONVICTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS(from Prominence And Demise, due Sep 4th)

Thoughts?