In the burgeoning days of Black Metal it was probably the most close minded and walled off of the various sub genres of Metal, musically speaking.  For a long time, anything that wasn't recorded in a bathroom, didn't lyrics about Jeebus being butt raped in that bathroom, and didn't portray non-stop tremolo picking wasn't considered "tru and kvlt." Thankfully, we live in a world where Black Metal has grown outside the confines of itself and is probably one of the more diverse styles around.

Flash forward to present day 2019, and this reviewer finds himself listening to an Atmospheric Black Metal band that somehow makes the most annoying instrument in the world (accordion) work well in such an extreme sub-genre but also makes it sound irreplaceable, having me wonder why this isn't a standard instrument in Black Metal by now.

As their Russian nationality would suggest, the Blackened music on this album can be cold and foreboding but is also grand, using that coldness to build many layers of atmospheric melodies and passages.  As for the accordion?  Listen to the opening notes to "Siberian Sorrow," and tell me that instrument can't build up a crescendo just as well as a guitar or sweeping keys.  Three minutes or so into the song is a bridge with clean guitars and the accordion working as well together as any other instruments I can think of.

But this album isn't all atmosphere...after all, it is Black Metal.  There is more than enough fury and even scary moments so how well does an accordion handle these aspects?  Listen to "Shrouded In Darkness," and you'll have your answer.  In between the creepy melodies and raged filled tempos, Sergey once again finds his place in this Blackened world. But "Will Of The Primordial," isn't just about the use of unconventional instruments.  At its heart, it still an Extreme Metal album with a lot of appeal to Black Metal fans, even if they don't care for the more atmospheric side of the fence. "Leshiy," is very raw as far as the riffs go and the drums are as furious as any BM I've heard recently, especially the insane double bass.

Vocally, Vilhem has that classic Blackened shriek but he isn't afraid to do some low Death Metal growls as well, something I wish more BM vocalists would stop being afraid to do. "Enisey," wouldn't sound out of place on an OLD MAN'S CHILD album, as the music uses keyboards to provide layers of melodies over heavier musical stylings. The album has two instrumentals, "Spiritual Emptiness," and "Rest In The Snow," which is one too many.  However, I don't think either one of them have a place on this album.  This type of music is usually mostly instrumental anyway so having two tracks without vocals doesn't really add any extra dynamics to the overall concept.  They aren't bad tracks, but both are too short and don't go anywhere; they would had been better served to be left out completely or just added into the other tracks.

Ultimately, this is one great Atmospheric Black Metal album with no shortage of great song structures that bring about with them exciting elements and changes to the listener, giving them a near nonstop ride of that classic Black Metal energy with more opened minded elements to it.