Here is the link to the review: http://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/reviews_2011/reviews_24_07_2011/CD/mighty_hordes_production/cdmighty_hordes_production.html
Spanish combo Frozen Dawn, with former members of e.g. Haemorrhage, Atmosphere Grey and Greenfly and formed by Grinder in 2005, debut on Mighty Hordes with an interesting concept around Winterland, a permanently frosty region in which natural forces combat each other, where the mystical meets the supernatural.
The quartet (Grinder, Lord Morgoth, and Spiritual Intervention-colleagues Arjan and Davinia) recorded this stuff in Winter 2009 in Madrid, and they had it mixed and mastered in Caracas, Venezuela, at the Sparta Recordings Studio. The album clocks near fifty minutes and comes with a rough but well-fitting production. There were a couple of releases before, which were some compilations with old recordings, done at different occasions, but these promos got distributed in a limited edition only, making it a collector’s item.
Note: since the band underwent several line-up changes, and since singer Lavin left when the band started recording their full length, and because he used to do the vocals on some of his oldest tracks, Grinder now takes care of the vocals as well, besides playing the guitars.
The Old Prophecy Of Winterland brings an epic yet chilly form of raw Pagan / Black Metal in the vein of many Scandinavian bands from the nineties. It means non-originality, yet in this band’s case it comes with an ideal equilibrium between melody and rhythm. The tempo varies a lot, yet in general it interchanges between slow and up-tempo. This makes the whole much heavier and darker in atmosphere, because this dense approach is suffocating, asphyxiating.
Think: Necrophobic, Watain, Satyricon (the album ends with the cover Fuel For Hatred, by the way, but in a minor performance), Dissection, Bloodthorn, Tulus, Falkenbach, Gorgoroth etc…
87/100
