Towards the Frozen Stream

So many times we feel tired about the tremendous quantity of mediocre bands which settle the mainstream metal scene, obtaining an unmerited notoriety as other more qualified musical projects spend their miserable careers in the deepest anonimity. Unfortunately an uncountable number of bands has had this unjust destiny, being a clear example a Finnish band called Vordven, a marvellous group which I would like to rescue from the obscurity. Vordven released in the fall of 90´s a freezing anthem called “Towards the Frozen Stream”, one of the most unknown gems of the underground black metal scene.

After a short intro the album begins unbeatably with a song called “Moonlight in the norther sky”, a beautiful piece of music where you appreciate the absolut relevance in the album of the sumptuous, epic and dark keyboards which dominate every composition in this CD. The raspy vocals and the fuzzy guitars complement perfectly the work of the keys and an evoking and misterious female voice perfectes the result. “Dream of Northside” is another nordic anthem which combines mid-tempos parts with fast-paced ones, here the keys play again the leading role with a beautiful melody. Furthermore, the excellent combination of female and male vocals enriches this song that, as the whole album, breaths cold, snow and pure darkness but always with a distinctive touch of epicism. In the last part an excellent guitar melody is perfectly combined with the vocals and keys in one of the few moments where the rhythmic section of this album have a real relevance. “Rivendell” is one of the outstanding moments of the album, it begins with a spoken introduction accompanied by a solemn key melody, taking into account this and that the lyrics are about TLOTR it is an unnecessary obviousness to say that this song is astonishingly epic. After the commented introduction the screamy vocals and raw guitars appear accompained by the tireless and incomparable presence of the keyboards, the majestic atmosphere is absolute with the adding of a choir in the background and Pirita´s lovely vocals, simply awesome!.

But my favourite song is the sixth one called “Eternal storm”, in my opinion is the best one closely followed by “Rivendel” and “Dream of northside”. It begins with stormy sounds and a sinister pealing of bells which are abruptly broken by a cavernous voice and the attack of fast-paced drums, haunting keys and excellent guitar riffs. The first part is very straighforward but suddenly it stops with Mika´s terryfing screams, in this moment a majestic key and a melancholic guitar melodies appear, the grandeur of this part can´t be explained, only listening it in the middle of a cold forest can express the endless epicism of this extract, then the initial fast part comes back an finalizes this extraordinary song.

My overall impression is that the album maintains an excellent level from the begining to the end without space to mediocre compositions and creating an extraordinary cold an epic atmosphere. Words can´t define properly this masterpiece of wintry anthems and I only hope that someday Vordven will receive the deserved appreciation from the metal scene. A must have for anyone who loves music with quality.