The band's name is Swedish/Norwegian for "black winter.” This album is the band’s sophomore release, and it has nine songs. “Torment” is first. There is aggression out of the gate, but it is counterbalanced with melancholy and solemn tones. The two styles wrestle with one another throughout the song…contentiousness and hopelessness…and that is the very definition of torment. The title track has thicker and heavier tones, but that feeling of depression is still very much present. It is augmented with feelings of rage and anger. “Ritual” is faster moving, and very overgrown with a wall of guitars and blast beat drums. The pace lessens, and the song begins to blend with others on the album, unfortunately.

“Abyss” is another that once it gets going, it locks in at warp speed. The band presses the gas pedal, and doesn’t look into the rear view mirror to see what they might have run over, or plowed through. “Where the Shadows Lie” is a slower grind, where the cold winds of desperation take over you and keep you down. There is still a lot of power in the music, but much of it comes from desolate tones. “My Last Winter” is about what you might expect from the title, at first. Clean guitar tones paint a picture for me of an old man living in the north, who is dying, and who just used his last piece of wood to warm himself.

“Of Cold and Grief” is a blast of both…the air is so cold that you quickly go numb. The same goes for the grief…it is overwhelming to the point of numbness. Some of the vocals even mimic the cold breath of death. “Beneath the Night’s Cold Gaze” closes the album. It’s a heavy rebellious type of song against some of the feelings that you allowed to settle in…which have turned to rage. This wasn’t a bad album…it’s Black Metal, inspired by the FWOBM forefathers who came before them, and with some modern touches. However, some of the songs blended together a bit too much, and that is my chief complaint here. It created just a mediocre listening experience for me.