Full Length Review: Frostmoon Eclipse "As Time Retreats" (Immortal Frost Productions) by Dave Wolff

Band: Frostmoon Eclipse

Country: Italy

Genre: Black metal

Full length: As Time Retreats

Format: CD, digital

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

Release date: September 26, 2025

The longest-active black metal band from Italy returns again with a profound dive into the distinctive sound they started years ago, which has persistently showcased potential.

With the release of their 2001 full-length album “Gathering the Dark”, they began honing the classic black metal formula of razor-sharp guitars, robust bass, and relentless blast beats. Frostmoon Eclipse was one of the first to draw inspiration from outside extreme metal, incorporating deeply resonant influences and shaping their songwriting with much-needed depth.

An additional effort to avoid oversaturation was by emphasizing a humanistic touch more pronounced than most bands of that time. Attentively highlighting that human element enhanced their growth even more than genre expansion, as they sought to evolve with authenticity. On the albums following their debut, it became evident that no musical style was too disparate, from ambient and gothic metal to progressive rock, psychedelia, folk, and classical; whatever contributed to serving the emotional impact they desired was added.

For their latest album, it’s liberally infused with elements of classic rock and classic metal, with shades of post-black and death-doom metal. According to what works, many more nuances are arranged in a way that’s raw, haunting, and soaring, both melodic and dissonant, with most of it sounding written in minor keys. Downtuned tremolo picking, dissonance, and blast beats are the foundation for the nuanced aspects brought to this album.

At times, there are dual guitars and underlying acoustic guitars creating gloomy, depressive harmonies with folk metal vibes sounding similar to Enslaved and Ophthalamia. Other times, there are classic rock elements that enhance depressive moods reminiscent of Katatonia and Paradise Lost. These moods have even more emotional depth than most DSBM bands, merging bittersweet introspection with a creative flair that can be compared to Queen, David Bowie, Rush, Uriah Heep, and old Fleetwood Mac.

The vocals display the most diversity, alternating from high-pitched rasping to a more goth metal style; complementing this are occasional choral vocals and spoken word parts. The whole, created by the sum of its parts, feels like mourning for a time long dead and vanished, deeply felt inside, as if the songs are vehicles to project that sense of emptiness into you, especially “Out in the Grey Light,” “Universe Black Vacuum,” and “No Place Left to Leave.”

As a representation of the band’s view of the world in general, “As Time Retreats” is poignant, incisive, personal, and extremely fitting, considering how much the world is changing and how bands like Frostmoon Eclipse have more opportunities to express existential journeys like this album. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Lorenzo Sassi: Vocals, lyrics

Claudio Alcara: Guitars, songwriting

Davide Gorrini: Bass

Gionata Potenti: Drums

Track list:

1. Transient

2. Truth of the World

3. Out in the Grey Light

4. Universe Black Vacuum

5. Spectral

6. No Place Left to Leave

7. Char These Bones to Coal

8. Eschaton

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Full Length Review: Blackwater Drowning "Obscure Sorrows" (Bleeding Art Collective/Blood Blast Distribution) by Dave Wolff

Band: Blackwater Drowning

Location: Salisbury, North Carolina

Country: USA

Genre: Melodic death metal, metalcore

Full length: Obscure Sorrows

Format: Digital

Label: Bleeding Art Collective/Blood Blast Distribution

Release date: February 27, 2026

In January, I reviewed a promotional video from Blackwater Drowning’s upcoming album “Obscure Sorrows”. The footage must have left a deeper impression than I realized, as I find myself immersing in the album. Blackwater Drowning’s third visual piece, released to coincide with “Obscure Sorrows”, somewhat echoes the creative liberties of “The Sixth Omen” and “Eye of the Storm”, but with notable distinctions.

“Devour,” inspired by vocalist Morgan Riley’s personal experience with a friendship that disintegrated through no fault of her own, emphasizes the song with surreal, symbolic, and nightmarish imagery vividly mirroring her ordeal. The visuals serve to heighten the emotional intensity and deepen the listener’s connection to the narrative.

Set in a dark forest and a nearby lake, it features a confrontation of sorts between provocatively dressed, sword-wielding dancers, along with imagery of sacrifice and transformation. In many ways, the sacrifice and transformation depicted through the choreography and effects reflect the band’s sacrifice of the typical approach to melodic death metal and metalcore, and the transformation of the nuances incorporated into those genres.

Cryptopsy guitarist Christian Donaldson understands the importance of mixing and mastering a band’s work to ensure every element is presented with sharpened clarity. Given the hyperspeed nature of his band and his experience working in the studio with bands like Suffocation, Ingested, and Shadow of Intent, his process of bringing out Blackwater Drowning’s heavy and experimental aspects, effectively balancing brutality with innovation was meticulous and thorough.

As vocalist and frontwoman, Riley demonstrates greater tightness, range, control, and diction than usual for crossing melodic death metal and metalcore. She also exemplifies the need for a vocalist to have a strong presence to match the instrumentation. Displaying operatic strength as she projects her voice, she phrases the lyrics in a way that makes them easily understood over the instruments, with rasping and melodic vocals overlapping in a natural flow.

The band’s musicianship is as tight as her high-pitched rasp. This symmetry is evident from the start of “The 6th Omen,” with an urgent keyboard passage that pushes you past its brief morphing into guitars, thrusting you into a top-notch execution of precise, inventive riffs, equally precise transitions, and virtuosic solos that continue throughout.

There is guitar crunch often played in inventive, intricate patterns, fitting a puzzle made of melodic progressions with grit that often grows around the edges. Keyboards underscore the verses like a deep lake, sometimes lining the background, sometimes adding color, and sometimes taking a more active role in the songs.

With occasional hints of thrash, black, and symphonic metal, and piano like a gentle rain falling into the lake I mentioned earlier, “Obscure Sorrows” is clearly an effort on Blackwater Drowning’s part to have each element of their sound interact harmoniously, fluctuating like waves in a vast ocean. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Morgan Riley: Vocals

Jeremy Bennett: Guitar

Ron Dalton Jr.: Guitar

Aria Novi: Bass

Aamon Dalton: Drums

Track list:

1. The 6th Omen

2. Devour

3. Eye of the Storm

4. Incubus

5. Heir of the Witch

6. Washed Out Washed Away

7. Where Mean Fear to Tread

8. Death by 1000 Cuts

9. Teeth and Claws

10. Chain of Ages