Metal Monday CCXC - Tundra

4/6/2020

This Metal Monday will showcase the coldest, longest twenty minutes of your life! Boreal Hymn has presented us with the demo Tundra and it is past time we gathered round and listened to this wicked frigid release.
First up, we have the slick first track called Labyrinthian Graves which sets the tone for the album and is definetly a metal title. Honestly. the intro may be my favorite part however the span from 1:30 (where he screams "dying") until 2:00 is riveting and hooks you with its howling power. Second up, we have Glimmer In The Umbra (no, I did not plan on featuring two tracks two weeks in a row with the word Umbra in it... just goes to show you how metal that word is!). Similar to the previous track at first glance, Glimmer In The Umbra builds into something else such as at 2:11 to 2:44 is more sorrowful while afteward it really embraces northen folk influence. Speaking of, Banner of Grief fully follows up on this style and atmosphere by bringing in something more akin to Gealdyr with pagan tones and vocals. Lastly, Defiance Against The Breath Of Gods waits for us at the end and I think that is an excellent track title to finish with, a mixture of old and new. I dig the energy and power within the track, seeming to be bigger, heavier than the others. I can't pick a favorite part because it is altogether awesome and with only five minutes you really get a lot thrown at you that will beg you for another listen.
Overall, I am all for Boreal Hymn. This side project from the Seer boys is a delight and I hope to see more in the years ahead. On a strange side not, for some reason I kept getting Hacride vibes and I cannot describe why, perhaps something about the unique style or vocals? Regardless, check them out as well!! /,,/
https://borealhymn.bandcamp.com/releases

3 Comments

Pagliacci is Kvlt

4/28/2020 08:15:16 am

I like to think of it more as the spiritual successor to Old Graves than a side project of Seer. YMMV.

The Mad Barron

4/28/2020 03:15:33 pm

You, sir, have my thanks. I had passed over Old Graves and forgotten about them yet now I am compelled to delve in given your words.

Pagliacci is Kvlt

5/2/2020 08:58:37 pm

Long Shadows holds a 3-way tie with Ashbringer and Oak Pantheon for favorite album of 2016. Hope you find as much enjoyment in it as I continue to do.

Also, thanks for the gift on Bandcamp. It really couldn't have come at a better time. I just got done watching the live Panopticon/Aerial Ruin Nechochwen Stay At Home Fest, and was getting hit hard by how much I miss the friends that I've made at Shadow Woods over the years. The year those bands played there was particularly the best. I really appreciate the kindness.

THE MAD BARRON

QUOTES I ADMIRE
"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." - from the Wilderness Act, 1964

"I owe my solitude to other people." - ALAN WATTS

“I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.”
― Walt Whitman

"In the ancient world, people placed heavy stones on the graves of the dead so their souls would not wander and inflict the living. I always thought this was simply the practice of superstitious and primitive people. But I was about to learn that the dead can hover on the edge of our vision with the density and luminosity of mist, and their claim on the earth can be as legitimate and tenacious as our own."

- Dave Robicheaux (In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead)