Coldborn - Lingering Voidwards (2016)

Bringing back the days when Black Metal was intended to be unsettling and highly creepy, today we have one-man project Coldborn and its debut full-length release “Lingering Voidwards”. Masterminded by Norgaath of Grimfaug and Nightbringer fame, this release delivers over 47 minutes of bone-chilling raw Black Metal with enough atmospheric elements to make you sleep with the light on at night for the rest of your life.

Perfectly balancing eerie atmospheres with ravaging lo-fi Black Metal, the album opens with the 12 minute behemoth “The Call of Death’s Clarion”. This track nicely blends some Doom-ish elements into the music, creating a very engaging and disturbing atmosphere. Coldborn continues its onslaught with the blistering opening of “In the Absence of Light, Death Gazes”. As the track progresses, we are reminded of older Satyricon, Tartaros and even Limbonic Art, thanks to the combination of slower paced sections with very prominent keyboards.

Having warmed up with their first two tracks, the band delivers the best song in this release with the superbly epic “In Solitude”. This track is filled with brilliant melodic riffs and a certain air of Pagan/Viking Black Metal influences, but the epic drums are what really gets you hooked into this track. The album continues to deliver very eerie tracks with the mysterious “Lingering Voidwards”, another terrific atmospheric piece that oozes rawness and dissonance.

The album closes with the old-school “Withered”, a track that brilliantly throttles between paces and styles, but always being quite dense and extremely atmospheric. Overall, “Lingering Voidwards” is one hell of a release filled with atmosphere and the right amount of brutality. The rawness of it makes it ideal for the nostalgic, while the combination of influences makes it appealing to a wide variety of people. If you like Black Metal that pushes the boundaries but still has that retro vibe, you will love this release.

Label: Final Sacrifice Records

Release: December 1st, 2016

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country: Belgium