Frozenwoods ‎"Echoes Of The Winterforest" CD

Frozenwoods are a Russian black metal band from the ass-end of the middle of nowhere. Go ahead and look it up – these guys are about as far from an ocean as you can possibly get on this planet, deep in the taiga of south-central Siberia. You really can't get a more authentic locale in which to record well, frozen, boreal black metal by a band straightforwardly named Frozenwoods. Despite their remote location, what we have on this, their debut album, is some finely recorded black metal with a refined sense of melody and desperation. They've also got a really fucking cool logo, for those interested in that sort of thing.
Duties are split between former Side of Despondency main man Malzus, who handles the lyrics and vocals, and a fellow going by Foltath Eternum, who wrote all of the music and played all of the instruments. The end result is something that wouldn't sound out of place coming out of Germany or even Poland. The guitar tone is crunchy and bites deep, providing the perfect platform for the towering chords and swooping tremolo lines. The general chord shapes are sort of along the same lines as midpaced black metal masterminds Mgla, often letting the notes ring out and blend together before moving on to the next chord. The excellent “Snow Is My Cradle” serves as a perfect example of this technique. Elsewhere, the band takes on a style that recalls the more triumphant sounding Norewegian acts such as Taake, such as the mid-album “Under the Vault of the Ancient Trees”, the magnificent “In Heart Only Ice” or sprawling, 10-minute closing piece “Woods Goes to Their Eternal Rest”.
Foltath Eternum is really a hell of a guy. Lesser composers could no doubt take a similar approach and fumble along with far inferior riffs and still find success and admiration because this style is so compelling in its relative simplicity, but Foltath really pushes things to the next level. None of the riffs here are duds, yet he still manages to shift from merely good riffs to spiraling beauty in a way that will make your head turn repeatedly throughout the entire album. He's also quite a skilled drummer; while his blasting is spot on, it's during the rolling double bass sections where he really lets loose with his knack for tasteful beats by way of the snare and cymbals. Malzus handles the vocal duties quite competently, with a mid-ranged rasp not all that different from Hoest's own howling, maybe with a bit more gurgle and a little less ferocity. It's an ample fit for the music and the vocal lines meld well with the riffs and flow of the songs. Other than a slight overuse of generic forest samples, this whole package kind of sets me aback at the level of sheer professionalism. Not that the production is over-polished; in fact I'd say it's spot on and really lets you hear every instrument quite clearly while still maintaining the essential minimum of grime on the guitars especially to succeed. From the presentation to the recording quality to the superb vocals but especially to the magnificent, romantic guitar riffs provided by Foltath, this album really has everything I look for in a black metal release. The artistry and craftsmanship that went into the songwriting is especially spectacular. The sequencing of the album is also such that each song is even more majestic and powerful than the one that preceded it. The seamless way that the vocals and instrumentation fit together seems like the work of a veteran band, rather than a first release by a new band featuring two members who've never worked together before.
I urge any black metal fans to track this down, especially those interested in the more romantic, melodic styles one often finds in Finland or Germany. Foltath Eternum has especially proven his talent quite thoroughly on Echoes of the Winterforest, giving me more than enough reason to seek out his efforts in other projects. And to look forward to the next Frozenwoods album, to be sure.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...