Nordicwinter is alive.
Solo project created in Canada by Evillair (all instruments/vocals, Autumn’s Tomb, Kalseroth…) in 2006, the band offers us a first album in 2007. We have to wait until 2020 for two more albums, followed by two others in 2021, and finally Beneath the Fleeting Light in 2022, in collaboration with Pest Productions. The artwork is signed by the American illustrator John MacDonald.
Hallowed Darkness opens the doors of the icy universe with a clean melancholic sound which quickly turns into a heavy, melodic and sharp saturation accompanied by ghostly screams. The suffocating mix perfectly serves the long track’s dark and gripping atmosphere, which will still offer us a rather mystical break before crushing us again under its heartbreaking slowness, then it lets Into Nothingness take over with a dissonant but majestic sound, quickly caught up by rather massive drumming. The contrast between soothing but sad leads and the hazy basis is sublime, leaving room for each element in due time before gradually purifying the sound for Forever in Memories to take over with its softness and melancholic clean tones. The track makes a perfect transition to Beneath the Fleeting Light, which plunges us back into deep darkness after an intriguing and strangely calm introduction, suddenly joined by the sharp Old School rhythmic. We feel some aggressiveness in this track with heartbreaking sounds which slowly lets us sink in this ocean of sadness and sorrow before gradually resurfacing on the final to reach Devoid of Life, a longer and solemn track. Possessed screams will join us while the heavy rhythmic does its work and darkens our mind, then drums will be unleashed to reveal a more aggressive side of the sound. After a long break, violence and darkness combine again to nail us to the ground, letting us only get up with Solemn Repose, an outro similar to the third track, which mixes keyboards, mystical choirs and morose softness before closing the album.
Nordicwinter‘s sound is made of icy darkness. Between two moments of quietness, Beneath the Fleeting Light wraps us in its heavy mist, hits us with aerial riffs, and terrifies us with its ghostly screams.
90/100