Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Full Length Review: NORTHWIND WOLVES Dark… Cold… Grim… (Black Lion Records)

Dark… Cold… Grim…
Country of origin: USA
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Originally mixed and mastered by Christer Krogh
Remastered by Brett Batdorf
Originally released independently December 20, 2017
Release date: January 18, 2018 (remastered release)
Melodic, fierce and furious black metal, with tons of musical arrangements, keyboards and dark lines. I don’t think this is another boring black metal band trying to copy Emperor, Limbonic Art, Dimmu Borgir, etc. Actually, Northwind Wolves is a California band formed by musicians experienced in extreme metal, as you can see in the biography. All these tracks have great guitar riffs, some closer to the heavy metal genre, with brilliant moments like Chamber Of The Shadowlord. I hear passionate, honest compositions. Incisive keyboards are found in all the songs, and purists of the genre will mention the references above described. I won’t defend it, but I will not say it’s bad either. Of course it’s risky to add keyboards to black metal, but these guys have distinctive parts, eloquent passages and dark atmosphere (just listen to “Entrance To The Dark Universe”). The band owes a lot of its sound to old Nordic and Swedish black metal. I’m sure this debut album will not be their definitive opus. I would buy their next piece of darkness. For additional info. I remember the bassist's ex band Sepsism, a great death metal band from California. -Victor Varas

Band lineup:
Noor: Lead vocals, guitars, keyboards
Astaroth Sinstorm: Guitars, backing vocals
Lennis Robenson: Bass, backing vocals
Brett Batdorf: Drums, backing vocals

Track list:
1. Dark Skies For Black Sorcery
2. Specters In The Funeral's Mist
3. Cold Hearted Kings Of The Occult
4. Last Light Before The Darkness
5. Foul Wolves And Black Magic
6. Entrance To The Dark Universe
7. Majestic Fog On The Everlasting Mountain
8. Chamber Of The Shadow Lord
9. Celestial Extinction

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