On this occasion, we once again encounter a black entity plagued with darkness and deep mystery. Since the band’s members and origin aren’t revealed, the music itself offers the only clues. The composition, voices, logo, and album cover all have palpable references that whisper the origin is Finland or another cold country obviously influenced by Finnish Black Metal.
After a short introduction, a whirlwind of melodies ensues. ‘Raze the Bastard’s Throne’ makes its way through cold riffs, its compositional intensity and deep feeling burning amidst frozen landscapes. The voices are a mix between Pest by Obtained Enslavement and Vritrahn by White Death. Halfway through, the song is suddenly suspended in the clutches of a keyboard-created atmosphere, only to resume a minute later with a repetitive, hypnotic riff that brought me back to the memory of old Catamenia.
Immediately afterwards, ‘Hounds of Eternal Dawn’ emerges. It continues the line of the previous track, overflowing with melodic tremolo picking riffs that are easy to hum and quite catchy. From the 2:13 mark, the hound attacks with another session of very good riffs. Due to this type of string composition, the bass is quite perceptible; its work is more of an accompaniment without wanting to stand out, and it follows the march at a firm pace along with the drums, which close with unannounced cymbal cuts.
Already deep into the album’s spinal column, the track that gives the band its name stands out. Showing a preamble of arpeggiated chords, it unleashes the most intense attack so far where the blast beat took possession for almost three minutes. It slows down for an instant and returns to the blast with visible time changes as connecting bridges. I sense that the purpose of this track is to be the banner or indelible mark of the band’s identity: speed, melodic riffs that undermine memory, volatile ambiance, and rhythmic atmosphere with great intensity.
The rabid, almost howling voices of this winter feat with an overwhelming intro, ‘Through Searing Skies and Glacial Abyss’, come to finish freezing the step with enigmatic keyboards and mysterious environments. The track feels like an announced apotheosis, as if the lights of the aurora had turned on in fiery red in the middle of the cold darkness. This beautiful gift of malignant stillness is violated by the guitar feedback of ‘Under a Pagan Moon’, the sixth track.
‘Under a Pagan Moon’ raises the flag of rhythm at half pace with somewhat catchy riffs, a constant throughout the album, but at the same time, it sounds somewhat happy. After minute three, the rhythm is defiled as they step on the accelerator for a few moments before falling back into half time. The ride and cymbals give different brushstrokes to the track. While the band’s title track was pure intensity with the blast beat predominating, ‘Under a Pagan Moon’ was defined by its rudiments, rhythm changes, and injection of different nuances that dominated the entire journey, along with the damned voices and the everlasting melodious guitars.
To close, ‘Wolves Beneath a Bloodred Sky’ is the farewell seal and one of the best songs on the album. With the first keyboards over the music, they managed to recreate atmospheric depth between trepid tremolo melodies and voices that honor the name of the track by emulating terrifying howls in the middle of the cold fog. The thick fog clears at intervals as the track falls into the drowsiness of the keyboards before suddenly returning to the whirlwind of overflowing black feelings.
I’m sure it will soon be known who the musicians are behind this good album, since it will not go unnoticed, and the country of origin will also be revealed. For now, I’ve assumed the places of origin are Finland or Canada, so I’ll give it time to find out if my ear was right or not.
