Nordgeist. Frostwinter. If you guessed that this is a groove metal album filled with slap bass and wacky ditties about otters then you best keep walking – as long as you have snowshoes!
Nordgiest is a one person Black Metal project from Siberia and the frostbitten brainchild of the mysteriously named “T”. There is nothing I can tell you about “T” apart from she is female. There are appropriately obscure pictures on the web which only enhance the mystery and bleakness surrounding this release.
Frostwinter is the debut full length release following a split with Vinterskult in 2018 and features four tracks of melodic atmospheric Black Metal weighing in at over 45 minutes.
Nordgeist released a “single” – Revenge – recently but this was just a taster rather than a track to be enjoyed on its own. All four tracks do not really exist individually, threaded through as they are by the stark and harsh melodies of the album as a whole.
The guitars stand proudly at the forefront- feet planted in the crust covered snow, leaning into the Nordic blasts that sweep from between snow-capped peaks (see this has got me all poetic like) . T’s tortured vocals sit, sheltering behind, curled up with the bass and drums but spitting pain and rage with the venom that fans of DSBM will greatly appreciate.
The songs are grand in scale but could do with a little extra oomph in the production to make the highs really pop and the lows really plumet but in a world of self-production and low budgets that is a minor flaw. The melodies are swooping and often heartbreakingly melancholy which is what I always look for in atmospheric Black Metal. Sorrow and bleakness convey a much more piercing darkness than cod Satanism and nihilism and show the reality of the greyness of the human spirit rather than a cartoon black.
Although being from Russia, Nordgeist evidently have look to the West for inspiration with a particularly Nordic feel to the compositions – I will not insult you by naming the usual suspects of the more atmospheric BM world.
I am sure other reviewers would and could wax lyrical about the minutiae of this album and the textures and influences within it. However, Frostwinter demands full immersion and as such I find myself rolling back from the keyboard and drifting off into the bright midnight sun-drenched winterscape that Nordgeist have sculpted and completely losing track of what I wanted to waffle on about. That alone has got to be a good thing. Sure, the production is a little lacking but this is Black Metal for great Odin’s raven’s sake.
If you want to lose yourself in a wintry wasteland for the best part of an hour this summer I recommend Frostwinter and a cold six pack. No Covid Passport needed.
(7.5/10 Matt Mason)
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