Frostmoon Eclipse celebrates thirty years of darkness thanks to Immortal Frost Productions.
Active on the Italian scene since 1994, the band created by guitarist Claudio Alcara (Aere Aeternus, Stroszek) released their first album in 2000. Now at the helm of seven albums, eight splits, six EPs and two demos, it is completed by Gionata Potenti (drums, Chaos Invocation, Darvaza, Moloch, Nubivagant, ex-Blut aus Nord… ), Lorenzo Sassi (vocals, Liber Null) and Davide Gorrini (bass, Nocratai) for his signing with Immortal Frost Productions, who are reissuing his first four albums, namely Gathering the Dark, Death Is Coming, Dead and Forever Gone and Another Face of Hell.
All albums have been remastered by Davide Gorrini at his Beastcave studio.
Gathering the Dark is a veritable treasure trove of Old School Black Metal. While the tracks are still very raw in their approach, there’s a clear distinction between the furious passages and the soft, melancholic moments, with the bass sound especially coming to the fore, or the unhealthy vocal parts. The tracks flow seamlessly into one another, each with its own personality, from the jerky Worms on Mankind, with its many rushes, to Ashes’ soothing tranquillity, an acoustic interlude that lets us breathe between the surges. I Am My Worst Enemy also stands out on this album, offering a strong contrast between the two worlds the band confronts us with, while linking them with heady melodies, as does Let the World Burn, which follows it, but above all Dusk to Exalt My Triumph, which is the most intense track and remains so even in the quieter moments.
Death Is Coming, the second album, immediately reveals an evolution: you can feel that the violence has been kicked up a notch, right from The Darkest Season of Humanity, the first track. The album is also shorter, clocking in at just over thirty-five minutes, but the tracks don’t suffer from this shortening, and focus on a majestic coldness while drawing inspiration from the Finnish scene, where Black Metal is much more incisive. The Black Tide is the perfect example of the duality advocated by the first album, while returning to its initial savagery, only calming down with an interlude, then abandoning itself again on In a Sea of Blood and World in Ruin, which are, in my opinion, among the band’s best tracks. The track that surprised me the most was Blindness, which remains very soothing, almost reassuring, and which will influence Waiting for the Storm, the last composition, giving it that sometimes more nostalgic touch while retaining its devastating accelerations.
For some reason, I’d never really listened to Dead and Forever Gone before, so I’m rediscovering this entirely acoustic album. If it’s disconcerting for me to hear so many acoustic creations (twelve, for over forty minutes), I eventually get used to it and even enjoy the experience, rediscovering the band’s melodious harmonics. Lorenzo Sassi‘s clear vocals are also very well handled, remaining soothing while accompanying the intoxicating compositions, which on the whole remain fairly gentle. A Moment Long a Lifetime is a little more upbeat, reminiscent at times of fireside folk compositions, but the darker touches of With Your Emptiness can be heard again in the murmurs, once again allowing the band to play on its strong contrast. It Heals, It Hurts is a perfect way to close the album, with what I find to be the most pessimistic sounds of this entire chapter, and one that resonates perfectly in our minds.
Another Face of Hell plunges us back into this infernal saturation, first with I Hate the Future, which knows how to be both haunting and ferocious, proving that the coexistence of the two atmospheres still wreaks havoc, and then with a fairly steady rhythm. The Old School influences are of course very effective in keeping the sound raw and furious, but they also help to create a rather dissonant and heady atmosphere, as on Elusion of Sorcery, which locks us in its curtain of oppression and never hesitates to hit us with all its might. Fury of the Elements is undoubtedly the most diverse track on the album, but I must admit I also fell in love with Drowning Within the Eclipse, the final composition, which remains rather misty.
Frostmoon Eclipse is one of those bands that have helped shape the Italian scene, and whose influence is undeniable on many bands from the country and beyond. These four albums are all very different, and their melodies resonate as much as their violence for fans of the band, giving themselves a second lease of life with the remaster.