Story of Frozen Souls is the name of the forthcoming third album by the Russian atmospheric black metal band Utburd. It is a concept album which takes as its historical subject matter the early exploration of Antarctica, encompassing the journeys of James Ross, Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott, seasoned with Edgar Poe’s novel (his only complete novel) about the adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Anyone who has done any reading about these explorations is aware that they are replete with tales of heroism, foolhardiness, terror, madness, and death, all of them shrouded in bitter cold and oppressive darkness. How has Utburd attempted to capture such sensations in sound? We have an example today in our premiere of the album’s eighth track, “Stories of World Winds“.
The song effectively summons feelings of freezing temperatures and biting winds, and of fear and agony. It brings waves of searing, dissonant melody with a downcast tone, a sound torn with anguish. The howling voice of Utburd‘s alter ego Tuor is also searing. At first there’s a steadiness in the drumming, but it also includes bursts of fervor. The music seems to writhe in anguish yet also expands in panoramic sweep, ringing and moaning, as the vocals pitch into wretched shrieks of pain.
The tumult builds as the drums and bass hammer with greater urgency and the music swirls in a feverish vortex of sound. The storm seems to break, pierced by wild flickering tones, but resumes, with the guitar wailing in grief above it. Near the end the storm breaks again, making way for a guitar arpeggio that blankets the mood in gloom.
Story of Frozen Souls will be co-released on April 10th by Satanath Records‘ label-partner GrimmDistribution and the Russian label More Hate Productions. It features cover art and booklet design by Alexander “Noctember” Prokofiev from Paint-It-Black Design. The labels recommend it “for adherents of mystic masters The Vision Bleak, Urfaust, Sinmara, as well as for connoisseurs of true cold – Borknagar.”
Below you’ll find pre-order links, and we’ve also included a stream of the previously released songs “The Tentacles of Winter” (a free download at Bandcamp) and the lyric video for “Eye of the Storm“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://grimmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/071gd-utburd-story-of-frozen-souls-2021
http://www.morehate.com/
UTBURD:
https://utburd.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RussianUtburd/
TRACK LIST:
01. Farewell… Farewell (Intro)
02. Ice Cerberus
03. Eye Of The Storm
04. The Unknown Shore
05. The Tentacles Of Winter
06. The Land Of Fierce Frosts
07. Eternal Cold
08. Stories Of World Winds
09. Impenetrable Sadness
Length – 57:42