Review of Thy Winter Kingdom - Opus I - Discipline of the Elements

This new black metal band say they play raw and icy black metal, and the song “Earth,” on Opus I- Discipline of the Elements, is a good example of this, but it is not typical raw black metal. The guitars are cleaner and the music is more atmospheric. There is a doom style to the guitars in places and overall the music is slow-paced with some mid tempo passages. The music is simple but not repetitive, with more melodies in the faster segments. This is a band that should play more and sing less. They are at their best without vocals. Track four, “Air,” could be on a Black Sabbath tribute album, but does not feel out of place here. The music is more dreary or depressing than “evil”, but not to the point of being doom. They are influenced by early Nordic black metal, just like everyone else, but as long as they continue to use early black metal as an influence and not revert to simple mimicry, this is a band to watch. They are young they can only get better.