As the title suggests, this album is a sequel. The first part “Dark Dragons of the Cosmos” was well received. The seemingly timeless Vinterriket is half of Battle Dagorath. What we’re led to expect here are distant and dreamlike ominous landscapes.

These landscapes are ominously cold and black, or at least that’s how this works starts out. Frost-bitten and furious black metal is cast upon us. The delivery is raw and raucous. Or so it is for eight minutes before we find ourselves in a melancholic scene and barren cosmic world where the only sounds are the menacing cries of birds. The harsh scene continues into “Asteres Planetai”. This again is black metal mixed with cosmic melancholy and power. The word that comes to mind here is “epic”. Half measures are not an option. The nineteen minute “Cast Their Ashes to the North Wind” follows three gargantuan tracks. An eerie ring, not uncommon in Norwegian black metal, stands behind the fiery fare. It’s as if man has turned into monster. This is a transforming, chilling world. Haunting, outer-worldly sounds invade the scene of devastation. You can’t deny the intensity of all this but as “Evoking the Mirrors” blasted its way through my veins, I couldn’t help but think that if I missed a few seconds of this here and there, it wouldn’t make any difference. “Fire Born from a Seer’s Light” continues in a similar fiery mode, then “Supernal Realms” starts cosmically before heading into a hypnotic wall of heavily melancholic proportions. Eventually it expands but I’m not sure it was worth the time. Eight minutes of cosmic gloom ends the album. This didn’t work for me as I’d never really connected to the cosmic side of things.

Without doubt “Frozen Light of Eternal Darkness” is atmospheric and intense, and the developing soundscapes give it great qualities in honour of its name. At the same time, I felt that the musical landscape stood still and I didn’t have a complete sense of togetherness about it.

(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/BattleDagorath

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/ii-frozen-light-of-eternal-darkness