Just from reading the name of the band and seeing the cover you should know what to expect here: frozen black metal from the forests of whichever country the band who plays the music of this overwhelmed scene happens to live in (in this case, it is Canada). Of course this really doesn't tell much, the assumption one would have upon seeing this would be that it is rubbish, because 95% of modern black metal bands are total garbage. Fortunately, that is not the case here. Indeed, this is one of the rare pieces of modern black metal in my collection that I kept after listening to it several times.

The first thing I will clear up is yes; there ARE keys on this album. But they are used rarely, and always mixed far behind the guitars (As it should be; this is supposed to be metal, not classical). The exception is when the keyboard is the only instrument playing, there are a few parts like that, where spoken word is done over the keys (And the intro, naturally).

As far as vocals go…can you say Burzum? I cannot stress this enough, if you didn't like Varg's tortured screams then you will not like the vocals of Frozen Shadows. In fact, the only difference between Varg and Myrkhaal is that Myrkhaal can actually pronounce words while he's screaming. If you've ever had a wild fantasy of actually following along the lyrics to Burzum, you may want to try this…

Riff-wise, you can expect a large Immortal influence a-la Battles in the North, with perhaps a bit of early Burzum added. Mix in a very early (A Blaze In the Northern Sky) Darkthrone production value, as well as the majesty of In The Nightside Eclipse and you've pretty much got the music on this release.

The only complaint I have about this is the total lack of solos. Personally, I think that a couple of the songs would be very well served with a slow, cold, brooding solo. Unfortunately the band doesn't seem to think this way. Hopefully, this is something they will correct soon (how much worse would A Blaze In The Northern Sky have been without the barren, evil solos? Well, the music on this disc would be made twice as good with the inclusion of a few of those…)

All in all this is a very worthwhile demo, which clocks in at about half an hour. If you can get your hands on this do so, but for some reason I have the thought that this is sold out…Ah well, their first full length is still available from Sepulchral Productions, Myrkhaal's record label.

8/10

Jormungand