From their Facebook page, "RAVEN THRONE is an Atmospheric Black Metal act formed in the northern part of Belarus in the faint year of 2004. Over time, through searches and discoveries, achievements and losses, RAVEN THRONE is looking for invisible trails to the mysteries of non-being. Inspired by the beauty of eternal Winter as before, he continues the endless falling into the Abyss. It is us who are the names of the Abyss, and the ways to it are in ourselves." Their latest album, slated for release in September, titled "Viartanne" contains seven tracks.

"Spell" leads us off. It has a long build-up, with a thick riff and a clean guitar sounding like bells ringing over the heads of the damned. It has a frightening sound, and you know something big is around the corner. When the vocals enter, they are harrowing screams of guttural death. A clean guitar lead ambient passage provides some relief to the earlier horror we heard, and really allows the song to breathe. The cello notes are wonderful. "The Return" is next. It opens with eerie tones and then the main riff hits hard. It maintains the horrid sound throughout. This is some next level evil.

"The Lord of the Frost" is a shorter and more intense sound, from the drums working overtime, to the vocals unleashing hell on earth. It settles into a groove eventually, but that frightening sound continues. "Winter Invisible Threads" has a slow build-in...with clean guitars and some atmosphere that settles. You feel cold and alone. Is the end of times here? The entrance of the vocals cause the riff to change a bit, as things begin to pick up in intensity. That desolate feeling continues throughout the song. "The Dead Legacy" is a seven-minute beast that has another slow build-in. It is slow and steady at first, then changes when the vocals arrive to a bit thicker and scarier sound. There is a long fade-out.

"Stop the Autumn's Heart" has a sad and melancholy entrance. Then the drums and distorted guitars come in hard and fast. I love the ambient passage about half way through. This is given for the listener to have some time to slow down. Then, the vocals come in, with both clean and distorted guitars. The leads create some eeriness to the song. "In the Psalms of Winter" closes the album. It opens with clean guitars and some more of that atmosphere that slowly seeps into you. Then, that big wall of guitars hits, with a slow and steady grind. The chord pattern stays pretty steady throughout, creating a hypnotic feeling that might drive you mad.

Overall, I really enjoyed this album. It stayed true to its Black Metal roots, but also provided some variation from the thousands of other bands out there in this genre. The harrowing moments were downright frightful, but the more ambient moments were gentler. When they talk about continuing to fall into the abyss, but also they ways to it being in themselves, that's a hard paradox to grasp. But, that feeling of endless falling into darkness is reflected in the music quite well. I think any fan of Black Metal will appreciate that feeling.