Here is the link to the review: http://www.infernalmasquerade.com/?q=reviews/001746-frozen-dawn-%E2%80%93-old-prophecy-winterland-2011
While there is a great resurgence of old school Thrash Metal these days, most Black Metal bands seem to be either stuck in the raw toilet-recorded sound of the past or in the faster-than hell with no real aim side of things. Luckily, Frozen Dawn delivers an excellent release featuring the sound that made Black Metal appealing in the past. Taking influences form the old-school Swedish and Norwegian scenes, more particularly bands like Dissection, Watain, Satyricon and Darth Throne, “The Old Prophecy of Winterland” features nearly 50 minutes of Black Metal you won’t want to miss.
Focusing on powerful and catchy guitar riffing, rhythmical drums (with blast-beast of course) and ‘manly’ vocals, Frozen Dawn seems to have re-captured the sound of the past and pushes it a bit forward with great production values and catchy songs. After a one minute opening track, “Black Spells” instantly delivers a catchy riff that while used through the whole song, it never get’s old and sounds exactly like what BM should sound like.
The atmosphere created by effective guitar work paired with a well constructed bass guitar line and timely drums is near perfect on tracks like “Through the Gates of Hate”. The tremolo picking is present as it should be, but it never overpowers the music and get’s dull. The singing of Grinder is exactly like BM used to be before all the shrieking and over dramatic creepy vocals.
Track after track, we get original songs that do not sound exactly like the previous one and that feature enough melody to be excellent instrumentals. Our favorite song has to be “Cold Souls” and it’s very effective opening that is ideally crafted for some serious headbanging. The solos on tracks like “Dark Lady” and “Winds of the North” nicely bring that old-school Death/Black Metal feeling to things while keeping the songs entertaining and well varied.
“The Old Prophecy of Winterland” is one of those few albums that has almost all the elements that have made Black Metal popular over the years, whether is effective tremolo picking sections, straight up melodic guitar parts, creepy and evil sounding passages or just firm and dark sounding vocals, this album has at least something for all fans of the genre.
If you are looking through the sea of insipid Black Metal releases that come out every day for a hidden gem, look no further and get “The Old Prophecy of Winterland”. We guarantee that this release will not disappoint any Black Metal fan, well, maybe some of the ‘recorded in the toilet’ BM fans.
Rating: 90/100
Dark Emperor
