From Bandcamp, "A place where melancholy, sorrow and despair unite to create a fictional musical building made of brutal riffs and heavy words. Enter the HALLS OF OBLIVION. The band from Southern Germany was formed in 2007 to channel the aggression and desperation of its members through blackened extreme metal tunes. After "Endtime Poetry," they opened the gates again and allow their audience to enter the HALLS OF OBLIVION: "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death." The album has nine songs.

"8°14'43''S 117°59'34''E" is the first. It's tender with piano notes and symphonics, and it builds to a tsunami wall of Black Metal, with a lot of power and punch. The tender notes return again at the end, as it segues into "Dusk." Again, charming notes lead the charge, followed by a heavy riff, but still high in melody. The heavier sequences have a distinct depressive sound to them, along with the rage and anger of Black Metal, while the softer passages develop a certain charm to them. This is not a one-dimensional band by any stretch. "Buried by the Blackest Sand" comes out of the gates with its fangs out. The more aggressive passages are marked with layers of guitars and harmonies, tempering that intense feeling. The clean vocals wash everything that is black.

"The Summer That Never Was" is another burning, and scorching sound again done with layers of melody, and a faster moving pace. The middle section of the song is very powerful, and the emotions lament loudly. "Red Snow" has another beautifully tender opener, like you are witnessing the falling of fall's first snow. But, as everything inevitable does, it turns to red, with the passion of the harsh elements...red snow that is stained with blood. The chorus is so emotive that the words materialize in front of you from their lamenting rage. "Eternal Frost" comes at you like a beast with his claws out, ready to tear you apart. The lead guitar work is intricate, and follows the melody line closely. The slow-down is expansive...almost like they are opening up another world for you to peer into, and it finishes with an emotional charge that will light up even the dead.

"In the Absence of Light" features another tender opening, but the tension in the air tells you that something wicked is out there. It swells for a moment, then is reduced to clean vocals, almost whispered. He recalls earlier, better times in his life, with bouts of anger and rage. The lengthy "Dawn" closes the album. Dawn is usually a time of re-birth, and a time when all that went bad the day before can be forgotten. Get ready to cry, shake your fists at the sky above, and disappear into a ball under your covers, because this song will move you to do all of these things. It will removed your heart, twist it mercilessly, and may not even place it back in your chest.

What a truly fantastic album this was. The vocals are intense, and carry characteristics of Black Metal, but the music is so much more. With elements of Melodic Death Metal and even Doom metal, it explores all that these genres has to offer the listener. They will move you over powerful waves of the ocean crashing over your head, and calm seas, where the tranquility will almost seem overwhelming. The melodies are placed exactly where they will hook you the most, and the vocals are endless laments of anger and despair...a wonderful sound overall.