Frozen Graves – Seeding Will [Demo / Re-release]

’Seeding Will’ was the very first release by Frozen Graves, originally stemming from 2015. At that time, the band was still a strictly Finnish affair, consisting of Cosmic Church mastermind Luxixul Sumering Auter and his Asymmetry bandmate Vandra (they would later be joined by Cénotaphe vocalist Khaosgott). Originally released on cassette Kuunpalvelus, His Wounds has now resurrected the recordings and pressed them on vinyl.

Already on this demo, the two band members had a very clear vision of what the band was supposed to sound like: midtempo Black Metal in the Finnish vein with an excellent sense for groove and the catchy riffs at the centre of it all. Mixed with some atmosphere enhancing synthesizers, ‘Seeding Will’ is therefore very much a logical precursor to what would eventually materialize on their excellent self-titled debut. There are some slight differences, however. First of all, the synthesizers sounds somewhat closer to Dungeon Synth style and are slightly more isolated compared to the more organic keys on ‘Frozen Graves’. And second and perhaps most obvious, Vandra’s vocals are different than the howling style of Khaosgott. Combined with a more stripped down musical formula, these songs clearly are a little bit more crude and basic compared to the material that ended up on the debut.

Having said that, ‘Seeding Will’ harbors much of the essence of what ultimately made the Frozen Graves debut one of the best Black Metal releases from Finland in the past decade, at least in my opinion. And that is three songs filled with aggression, groove and catchiness like only the Finnish can mould in that raw and threatening atmosphere. Therefore it comes as no surprise that this is a simply excellent demo and pretty much essential for the admirers of the collected works of Luxixul Sumering Auter.