Review Summary: An Advent of Perpetual Winter
The vast, eternal winters ov night. Where only the dull grooves of a clean bass provide warmth, where the harsh treble of a guitar shall keep you at bay. Shelter is naught; as is the raw production of these frigid demos. Relics almost as old as the second wave of black metal itself, a forgotten cornerstone of the Black Circle.
The demo that starts our everlasting winter is Trøndertun, which is quite tropical compared to the other material on here. For what it is, the production is not bad. The bass plods along with pounding grooves with the wispy guitar. Funeral Marches to the Grave absolutely steals the show this early on. Its groovy midsection is reminiscent of what Darkthrone would imitate only a few years later. A false sense of security before the storm.
Grymyrk summons forth howling winds that wretch the soul. Guitar takes center stage. Only a single, muffled bass provides any sense of groove. Many will enter dazed and confused; not everyone will make it past this point. Despite the even rougher production, there’s still great riffs to be dissected. Fairytales and You That Mingle May are the only spots of hope and warmth. The rest are quite decrepit, a chance for its value to crumble like snow to those who trod forth.
With the roughest patch of this winter past, we enter the simply titled Rehearsal. A short fire and warm meal before we march onward. Some of the best songwriting is found here, being in Into the Promised Land and Lacus de Luna. Much like the first demo, everything is finally allowed to breathe. Bass, guitar, and drums exist alongside each other, still casting a winter spell.
A flurry of repeated chants whisper through the air, and our last two demos continue the frozen onslaught. These last two are merely rehearsals of their best material with slightly better production. The only new song is Mare Frigoris, a two minute intro consisting of dark synths and guitar soloing.
Snow melts before our eyes, and piercing winds freeze no more. It’s finally finished. Amongst its mystical atmosphere, it showcases the building blocks of Norwegian black metal. Raw production, groovy midsections, a lack of guitar solos, the iconic simple riff progressions. While these demos were only traded among those in the Black Circle, you can hear Snorre Ruch's influence smattered among these early bands. The guitar tone was set. One message was clear.
May wasps plague thee henceforth.
