Germany’s Schattenvald (Shadowforest) has been knocking around since 1998, but didn’t release an album until 2007, and has released 5 albums since, yet somehow neither I nor any of the staff here has covered them. And we love us some German black metal in these here parts.

As I said in my review of Nazghor’s A World Ablaze, I’ve been digging what the reactivated Solistitium Records has been laying down, so I thought I’d check out the 6th album from this act, which was formed by Cryptic Wintermoon‘s ‘Nachtsturm’ and joined by long-time member Iskharian on vocals, and recent addition, Tyrann on bass.

What we have is a very Scandinavian-sounding black metal album, with less German…’quirk’. It’s a frosty, brittle, tremolo-picked assault of wintery salvos, with some Dark Funeral, Istapp, and early Ulver (especially some of the bass lines)/Abigor/ Emperor vibes. It’s raw, but clean and has some light atmospheres and keyboards here and there- but not quite full-on symphonic black metal, or as full-on melodic black metal as Cryptic Wintermoon, but somewhere in between.

The songs on the album are apparently all old or rearranged songs, finally given a ‘professional’ production at Nightside Audio Studio (Eis, Istapp), but they all have excellent riffs that will please fans of the genre.

After a primal, savage start, “Daemmertage” settles into a really nice melodic blast at the 2:45 ish mark, and from there on in, I’m fully into it. Riffs in the likes of galloping “Auf Alten Pfaden”, the crystalline fury of “Die alte Mühl’ im wilden Wald”, all hit that Nordic, frosty, foresty black metal itch.

The middle of the album wanders into a bit of a lull with “Im Nachtenschein” and “Wenn dereinst der Berg rief”, but the closer “Winterland / Alle hernach” is a gloriously majestic, almost Christmas-y, more full-on symphonic black metal track, ending the album on a solid high note

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