Necromantic Arts

This is album is just... wow. It really leaves you speechless the first time around. And the second, the third and so on. There are more ideas in this album than many artists have in entire careers. I can't lie, I've always been a sucker for the horror and occult in metal, but this is a whole other level. What's more, is that they mix a more operatic female singer to contrast the lead singer's growls, giving the songs a fuller, more grandiose feeling, perhaps never more prominent than in "Fifty Names", which is probably my favorite song from this entire album. The way they mix horror, occultism with the rough and tough metal hellscape we all know and love is simply phenomenal, and it makes me really look forward to their next release. The bar has definitely been set much higher than most bands' initial releases, with the only bands I can really think of that achieved that would be Death, Dissection and maybe Satyricon. I only wish I could find the lyrics somewhere to appreciate even more of this masterpiece of an album. Expectations like these are not the best to have, but I feel like this band has more than earned it with this release, and I think they will deliver equal if not better with their next album or EP.

The mixing is also quite good. It's a more refined version of what black metal is typically known for, and you can tell apart most of the instruments quite consistently, and it's still brutal and raw when the moment demands it. The bass is there, thankfully, because sometimes it's not always audible in these sorts of mixes, which is a shame. Personally, I would have appreciated it to be a just a bit thicker sounding, but the pounding drums definitely more than compensate in my mind for that.

My only gripe with this album is that the intros tend to be a tad dragged out, with the one that's not always worth listening to every time would be "Martyria". Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore the song, but the intro could have perhaps been trimmed a minute and not really lose much (the sound effects, like the dripping water, not the actual music part).

To close out, Frozen Winds are not just masters of their craft. They are goddamn forces of nature. Definitely my favorite black metal release of the year, if not the decade. And certainly my favorite modern black metal act, by far.

Favorite tracks: All of them. They are all worth listening to, 100%. Everything here is just... Beautifully brutal, if that makes sense.