One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced as a music critic is trying to describe a band’s musical aesthetic when its discography is all over the place. I know what you’re thinking: Blut Aus Nord, and you’d be right, but at least there’s an intangible thread connecting the various cantankerous branches with their wavy, pulsing roots.
Vaarwel, the brains and sole owner of Russia’s Frozen Ocean, takes his project where it needs to be, and as he believes it must be delivered, musically. Over the course of 11 albums, as well as various EPs and splits, Frozen Ocean follow their own muse, with no musical association between them. It’s a big dilemma what you’ll get per release, and I can’t help but respect that.
I wish it connected with me as well as The Prowess of Dormition did. While Dormition was melodic black metal with an underlying trip-hop tendency, Askdrömmar flirts with DSBM, rubbing shoulders with a more trippier Lifelover tendency. The opening track, “Mangata,” starts with some atmosphere, before taking on a simple repeated melody, followed by blandly programmed drums and finally more orchestration. Vaarwel adopts a more raspy black metal hue this time, and right when the song starts going somewhere, everything fades out and you hear a sample of a young woman talking. Believing this would lead to something, instead it leads into “Bortkastade dödsrunor,” the next track… which starts with another sample.
Most of what follows is a “wash-rinse-repeat” cycle among the remaining eight tracks, as they all follow a certain pattern: either a sample or a piano shimmer, followed by a riff reminiscent of nothing so much as mid-era Katatonia (“Kottkvam”), an atmospheric moment that sounds like a terrible buildup that only returns to the main riff, and then an abrupt ending. Things start getting interesting when “Långt lopp genom mörkret” arrives, with its hyperactive keys and lively, energetic rhythms, but this is track #8 on a nine-track album, and that’s too far down the tracklist to turn things around. By then, it’s too formulaic and repetitive to leave a lasting mark.
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The production doesn’t help at all either, as it’s cramped and flat. The programmed drums sound like they’ve been mixed a little too far back, while the guitars, keys and vocals are in front of you, and these sound compressed to within an inch of their existence. The biggest obstacle of this album lies in its conception and how it connects to Frozen Ocean‘s discography. As a fan of Blut Aus Nord, I know that mainman Vindsval will write whatever he wants, and for that reason, BaN‘s discography covers a broad range of sounds and styles. However, the big difference is that you still hear BaN. Vaarwel doesn’t have that distinction as far as his music goes, as his releases are so spread out in style and quality that it’s hard to find a common thread linking them.
And this is bad to write, because I remember being impressed by The Prowess of Dormition when it came out nearly a decade ago. While I didn’t expect a repeat of that EP, I also didn’t expect to be bored by what’s offered here. Vaarwel is a talented musician with excellent ideas, but I expect those ideas to be realized. With Askdrömmar, I’ll keep waiting.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format reviewed: 319 kbps mp3
Label: Apocalyptic Witchcraft
Websites: Bandcamp | Releases Facebook Worldwide: February 13, 2026
The review was done by Angry metal guy.
