Having been around for fifteen years, the Spanish black metal act Frozen Dawn has been experimenting with sounds that are inspired by nineties Scandinavian black metal bands – mostly the ones that come from Norway and Sweden – such as Satyricon, Dissection, Darkthrone, Dark Fortress, Watain, and Necrophobic. 

Just like most old-school black metal units that are inspired by first and second-wave Scandinavian black metal, Frozen Dawn mostly writes songs about the cold North, the darkness, and winter. Being a massive fan of the Scandinavian black metal scene that I am, the emergence of projects like Frozen Dawn coming right in always enthralls me. They play all-around intense, melodic black metal with a touch of thrash-influenced aggressions, and The Decline of the Enlightened Gods on (Transcending Obscurity), which marks the fourth full-length they have released thus far.

The album was mastered by Dan Swanö (of Unisound Studios) who has previously worked with some other great names in the extreme metal scene, such as Dissection, Dark Funeral, and Marduk. Regarding the album artwork, it was done by the late and legendary Polish surrealist artist, Mariusz Lewandowski, who has designed album covers for many other metal bands including Mizmor and Abigail Williams.

Over the years, Frozen Dawn’s sounds have been described as stirring and scathing, completed with touches of soaring leads. Especially on this album, the sounds that they present perfectly capture the image they’re aiming for; as a homage paid to the old-school black metal overlords such as Dissection, Necrophobic, and Naglfar. Not only limiting their focus towards the black metal spectrum, but they also managed to incorporate touches of death metal and thrash metal influence, as well as contemporary structures to the record. 

The highlight of this album personally to me is the fact that they featured a cover of Necrophobic’s ‘Blinded by Light, Enlightened by Darkness’ and it was very powerfully done: they have succeeded in recreating and redefining the heaviness that Necrophobic has to offer. What’s captivating about Frozen Dawn’s songwriting, mostly on this album, is that they don’t limit their self-expression in music into segments and boundaries, instead allowing themselves to be versatile and explore as many influences as they can.

My personal favorite track on this album gotta be ‘Frozen Kings’ with its intensely catchy riffs, hammering beats, and fast-paced drums. Besides that one, there are also some other tracks that instantly caught my attention as well, such as the atmospheric opening track ‘Mystic Fires of Dark Allegiance’ that presents heavily distorted sounds, as well as the title track with all the frantic and rapid paces.

The Decline of the Enlightened Gods is a release that deserves more respect and exposure, as Frozen Dawn managed to build their own definitions of heaviness and darkness inspired by their long-time Scandinavian metal influences.

Buy the album here:

https://frozendawnbm.bandcamp.com/album/the-decline-of-the-enlightened-gods-black-metal

8 / 10

RALKA SKJERSETH