Lyrics and music were written during 1994-1995, followed by recordings in 1996.
Tracks 2,3,6,7 are in Russian.
Cover art by Ivan Bilibin, taken from fairytale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" ("Василиса Прекрасная"), 1899.
Recorded at the legendary antipriestly Head-lee studio in 1996, mixed in 1996.
This album, according to the band, is actually stuff that was written between 1994-1995 and recorded in 1996 by 2 members of TANGORODRIM (Larenuf – vocarnage, guitars, bass) and Alcoholic (skins), before Tangorodrim was even formed. Is it true? I guess that we’ll never know… Does the music featured here fit the period it’s claimed to be recorded in? Definitely!
Like in Tangorodrim, this album is a kind of Darkthrone’s kinsman, featuring similar “air riffs” and harmonies. The difference between Frostgrave and Tangorodrim is that Frostgrave is less influenced by Hellhammer (except maybe for the Hellhammerish riff that appears in the song “Black Metal and End”) and in the singing style, which is a way more typical 2nd wave BM singing style.
Although it’s different from Tangorodrim’s stuff, there are still the same languages mixed in this album, 4 out of the 7 songs are performed in Russian, but it’s not a big loss for those who don’t know this language, it’s about the same Hell! , space and the same cold atmosphere. Here and there – there are riffs that were later used in Tangorodrim, like in the song “Funeral Frost”. Most of the songs are played at high temp and the parts played in low-mid temp are pretty rare, which is really different from Tangorodrim’s stuff.
You can notice the Russian fold elements on the cover, such as Baba Yaga’s house, which stands on chicken’s legs and of corpse the ultimate Russian-looking girl that appears there, but musically – this album has no fold elements whatsoever. By the way, there are guest musicians here as well, such as Incinerator (who later played in Tangorodrim), who contributes a guitar solo here and some lyrics, Akonith (I have no clue who it was) and Dalmerot Kingdom (nowadays –Bartholomeus Night)’s singer, who just contributed some screams.
If I (finally, huh?) stop comparing between Frostgrave and Tangorodrim, I can say that as I’ve already told before – BM-era Darkthrone is not my cup of tea and Frostgrave is not the next band I’m gonna start worshipping, but all in all – this album is absolutely fine for what it is and can fulfill the needs of an average Darkthrone fan, way better than many other Darkthrone clones, who record crap that makes you wonder whether you hear drums or Conditioner’s noise in their recordings.
And since well-done BM is rare as virgin sluts in this country, it’s definitely worth getting ordered from Absolute Hell label, which is by the way created by Larenuf himself. Expect more projects from Tangorodrim’s members (and not only) to be unleashed through this label in the future
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
