Black Metal is probably my favourite sub-genre of Metal, even though I don't listen to too many bands from it, but I've always admired the versatility of emotions and atmospheres it has to offer; which cover extremes and some more elegant musical directions as well. With that said, Black Metal - like any other genre - has its own clichés, some of which are on par with Power Metal in terms of cringe (e.g. a lot of bands' "satanic" image) and some artists, for some reason that is way beyond me, usually decide to follow these clichés and already laid down (and in some cases overdone) ideas. Based on their debut, NORTHWIND WOLVES are one of those bands.

The whole record I'd say is...I don't know how much sense this makes, but it's "not-bad-generic". I mean, its execution is not bad, but it basically lacks any notable originality. Especially the damn vocals - this LP would be 10x better if their vocalist changed it up just a tiny bit - for they are easily the worst part of the experience, and almost ruin the damn thing.

As for the music: barely passed at songwriting, failed at atmosphere. I can certainly see (well, hear) what they were going for - a dissonant and "cold" guitar feel - but it just didn't quite do it for me; it felt empty, in a bad way. There's certainly some enjoyment to be found on the record though. Highlights include the ending of tracks No. 1 and 2 (even though this approach is reused not half as effectively in "Entrance To The Dark Universe", the solos in "Foul Wolves and Black Magic" and "Cold-Hearted Kings of The Occult" - which is probably the best song of the album; pure fun with not such a hard-hitting, but intriguing atmosphere.

So yeah, if you're looking for some kind of revolution in Dark... Cold... Grim..., then you'll be very disappointed, but I think it ALMOST hits an 'above-average' level of quality. Almost... An... Above average... Album............................