I’m throwing these two in together as both Spanish bands have intertwined members and a lot of common ground between them. Both albums have been recently released by Winter Demons and offshoot of the Darkwoods label who embrace all things black, pagan and folk related on their roster.
Between The Frost have been active since 1993 and have 3 full length albums and a few demos to their name. Between The Roots 1993-2015 (7) pretty much does as described delivering 4 old songs which have been re-recorded along with three new ones. If like me you were wondering what on earth is frosty about Spain, a country normally associated with heat and holidays do not worry as this is suitably ice cold Scandawegian worship with plenty of heft and cold bristling atmosphere about it. It opens with Immortalized Darkness (Over Raven Wings) a track that harks right back to the band’s first demo from 1995. You actually get this with the first edition of this album but I did not, so not having heard that I can only assume this has been given a good old polish to bring it up in-line with more modern recording methods. We are taken in with a howling wolf, eerie keyboard line and a crash of thunder before the band explode and romp off hellaciously with some classical, spitefully-cleaving black metal. It’s fast and furious and punctuated with sharp rasping vocals from Rafra Frost who really adds to the bitter and thorny impact of it all. Melody is thick and the drummer Asier enjoys ringing out the clashing cymbal, thwacking it to reverberate at every opportunity. They ease off the speed for a sudden down part and drip atmosphere momentarily before seething back and going from a mid-paced chug to volatile finale. This sounds very much like it’s been spawned from the time originally composed taking in aspects of bands such as Dark Funeral, Gorgoroth and Lord Belial and it is delivered with plenty of exuberance. It’s impossible not to throw yourself back into the era as they continue to romp off at a compulsive breakneck speed and ratchet away on numbers like My Crystal Tower (Towards The Ethereal Throne). A medieval sounding, jaunty pagan melody is served up on this one and the croaks get very Abbath for a second before going low and guttural. There’s quite a lot going on to qualify the first couple of numbers stretching over the 7 minute mark. As you may well expect there’s not a huge difference between the old and the new songs and they keep the old-school vibe clearly in mind with the 3 recent tracks (actually 2 and an outro). ‘Many Answers Remembering Courage’ spits venom vocally and hits a solid groove with an unrelenting drumming salvo rolling away and crushing everything. The guitars weave away and the melody flows making it impossible not to head-bang along furiously with it all. One thing’s for sure Between The Frost have plenty of fire about them and I will be keeping my ears peeled for more in the future; horns up!
Evnar were formed much more recently in 2010 and are a trio comprising of Between The Frost’s guitarist JM, their former vocalist Roman and Slovenian drummer Robert Kovačič whose name you may recognise from former live duties in Belphegor. Debut album E.V.N.A.R.(8) is quick to fire out its ‘Blasphemia Manifesta’ with a thicker roaring vocal prowess than heard in Beyond The Frost and storm laden bombastic swagger. It really comes to the fore with ‘Contemptus Vitæ’ The drums roll and the guitar and bass churn away but what really impresses are J.M.’s occasional solo passages. It’s as though he’s been let off the leash a bit and really does pepper things with some incredible lead parts. Fist slamming swagger and gutturally commanding vocals are full of force and taking absolutely no prisoners and when a solo snakes off and scorches away it’s obvious that this is something rather special. I guess this is a bit more blackened death than BTF although both bands have that description according to various sources. No doubt this is partly due to the thunderous drumming, the barking vocals and the whiplashing force behind it. There’s some fantastic melody though and every song seems to have a spark of its own about it. The Necromorbus Tore Stjerna mastering makes it all the more formidable. The pace here hardly lets up and the album pretty much steamrollers over you over its 31 minute running time. Any longer and your head would be in danger of falling off as everything clatters and bombs away on tracks like ‘Death Is In The Air (Stench Of The Slain) which delivers pretty much everything its title suggests. The shred moves into a tsunami of technicality in a sudden burst on ‘King Of The Grand Urak’ and along with the supreme savagery of this particular number it stands out and cannot fail to impress. ‘Torment Of The Doomed’ delivers a leaden stomp and has the album’s melodic guitar pinnacle running through it, once heard you’ll be waiting for it every playback. The acoustic playing on ‘Conceived In Fire’ is absolutely sublime and closer ‘My Cremation’ suitably incinerates with a cataclysmic Mardukian force.
Two very good Spanish discoveries, check them out at the following links
(Pete Woods)
https://www.facebook.com/Betweenthefrost
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