Frozen Shadows - 2004 - Hantises

Here we have the second assault from this Canadian Black Metal horde. We had to wait for 5 years for this release, but it was well worth the wait. 8 tracks of blistering fast Black Metal with the occasional slower and heavier parts is what we are presented with here. As with their first album, this
sounds very Nordic and it is nice to hear that some bands can still get that special old sound. Musically I would say that this reminds me of the newer school of bands, like Watain and Ondskapt as well as older Immortal, Enslaved and the old side project Zyklon-B, with members of Emperor, Satyricon and Dødheimsgard.

The vocals remind me mostly of those by Grutle of Enslaved, mainly because they sound as insane as the ones he did on the Frost album. If you've heard that album you know what I'm talking about.

The soundquality is very good. The drums and the vocals are what you hear most in the mix, but the guitars are not far behind. I must say that I really do enjoy this album. A keyboard is utilized at times on this album as well, but as with their previous album they're used sparsely. Good musicianship and good production gets us a real good album. I would strongly urge you to get this album. If you're lucky you might even find the limited edition of this album with their demo as a bonus cd.

Standout tracks are "As Old as Time Itself", "Des Siecles d'Epitaphes", "Battered Souls" and "Towards the Chambers of Nihil".

Monday November 27 by :Vragh:

Frozen Shadows - 1999 - Dans les Bras des Immortels

Here we have the first album by Canadian Black Metallers Frozen Shadows, an album well worth to check out. Aggressive northern style Black Metal with keyboards that are not used excessively. I find traces of earlier Emperor, Marduk and Ulver as well as Gorgoroth here, but this album actually reminds me mostly of Enslaved's second album Frost, and the vocals are very similar to Grutle's Black Metal vocals on that album.

The music is mostly fast, with the occasional midpaced parts. The soundquality on this album is also very similar to that on Frost. You can clearly hear the drums and the vocals, the bass is a bit muffled and the guitars are slightly in the back of the mix. Some longer tracks are on this album, clocking in at around 8-9 minutes each. These Canadians have actually managed to catch some of the Northern spirit that usually just is not present on so many albums.

Be sure to also check out their recently released second album, Hantises.

Standout tracks are "Dans les Bras Des Immortels", "Au Seuil des Tenebres" and "Lunes Funebres".

Tuesday June 22 2004, by :Vragh: