A Frozen World Unknown

Okay, well as you may have noticed, this is not actually an Immortal album, but an album by a small blackened thrash metal act from Sweden, named Rimfrost. The first thing you will notice when hearing this album is the similarity between them and Immortal. Some may even call them a clone. Many frown upon clones, but in the case of Rimfrost, that is not a bad thing. I have never been happier to have a clone of a band. They stay true to the classic black metal feel of frozen wintery nights, while combining it with elements of german thrash metal. Although they are not the first to do so, they blend the genres of black metal and German thrash metal expertly, as Immortal did before them.

If you are looking for a typical Swedish black metal sound here, such as Marduk, you will find no such thing. Even though these guys hail from Sweden, their black metal elements are most definitely of the Norwegian variety. Hravn's vocals are the usual throaty ones that are generally associated with the genre. They are somewhat lower pitched in comparison to a lot of black metal bands, and sound similar to Abbath's vocals in his side project I. Hravn delivers his vocals with power, evil, and that cold icy chill that we all love when it comes to black metal. Guitar riffs (also played by Hravn) are fast paced, catchy and very thrashy. Along with Throllv's blast beats, double bass, and rapid drum fills, this album is a total headbanger.

The songs on this album are rather long, the shortest being At the Mighty Halls They'll Walk, at 6 minutes and 14 seconds. However even if you are not generally a fan of longer songs due to losing interest after x minutes (as I am), I would still recommend you this album. These tracks will NEVER bore you. In each song, the riff playing changes numerous times, but not in the verse, chorus, verse chorus way. Each song contains a plethora of new and exciting riffs to headbang your ass off to. This changing of riffs prevent the songs from ever getting even the slightest bit boring.

The first track on the album, Freezing Inferno, is easily the best track, and an instant black metal classic. The words first spoken at the beginning of the song, and then later screamed as part of the verses have become engraved in my brain from listening so many times. The title track of this album is the only reason i gave this album a 99% and not a full 100%. This track just didnt stand out to me as much as the other 4 did, but the other 4 are so good that that hardly made a difference in my enjoyment of this album at all. To top it all off, the final track (Hordes of Rime) exits with a very ambient outro, complete with marching snare fills.

This album is most definitely one of the best albums I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. It is nothing short of classic. Anyone who says that black metal is dead, is wrong. This album is proof.


"The judgement day is here
Far from the north
The ancient rites set us free
Unhallowed we aproach
Winters cold biting nights
Everthing lies frozen
The world has ended
This is the Freezing Inferno"

-Freezing Inferno