From Bandcamp, “Active since 1995 and with five previous full-lengths under their belts, Russian OLD WAINDS are back on the frozen field. Picking up where they left off with their previous album, the predominantly fast-paced "Stormheart" reveals itself as ice-cold, yet melancholic and introspective at the same time. Driven by stunning guitar work, completely devoid of unnecessary gimmicks and vocals slightly distorted and rife with murderous contempt, OLD WAINDS delivered one of the best Black Metal albums of the last couple of years.”

The album has seven songs, and “Watch the Midnight Unveil” is first. The sound is quite desolate, and the sonority changes throughout…sometimes bouts of anger and other times bouts of depression. “Northern Starfall” has a thicker sound, and as it grows, it’s like roots of a large tree spreading underground where you can’t see them. Soon enough, the tree can withstand the winds of a hurricane. The vocals rage like a never-ending fire that you can see clearly for miles. “Of Night and Ice” goes deeper and darker, reaching the recesses of the earth. It settles into a harrowing groove with thick bass notes and a sense of urgency in the music. But just when you think something is going to happen, it disappears into the shadows.

“In the Heart of the Storm” is another fast moving song with harrowing vocals and thick guitars, but at this point in the album, the band should be doing more to separate themselves from the pack. “The Eternal, the Dead, the Arcane” comes out of the gates with another massive sound, but it is augmented with some more somber passages, but the band is sitting back a bit and resting on their past approaches in my opinion. “To the Moonlight” is another thick, overgrown sound but again, it is not distinguished from many of the others on the album. “Snow Swarm” closes the album, but, unfortunately, it is more of the same again. This wasn’t a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but following five previous albums, the band didn’t challenge themselves enough. They clearly have talent, and a penchant for the darker side of Black Metal, but they rested here.