Review by Dominik on July 6, 2025.

I think most of what crawls out of Russia these days would be better kept buried under Siberian permafrost. From gnome Medvedev's maniacal war tirades echoing Goebbels, the unhinged imperial cosplay of a certain "democratically" re-elected president, to the morally bankrupt drone and missile parades launched toward Ukraine, it's hard not to associate the entire country with a ticking geopolitical migraine. Which is tragic, really—because despite the political sewage, ordinary Russians remain people caught in the same grinder, losing—like the Ukrainians—sons and fathers in a war that benefits no one but the Russian suits and spooks. While governments trade warheads and propaganda, those mysterious, vodka-powered souls are just as stuck in this blizzard of idiocy as anyone else.

Not exactly the ideal starting point to review a black metal album from the worldwide biggest city north of the polar circle, which is located in Russia, is it? And yet here I am. Murmansk, this frozen outpost beyond the Arctic Circle—home to Old Wainds and also for me the place where I spent the coldest day of my life (minus 49°C, thank you very much, and yes, I basically peed ice cubes). Still, despite that testicle-shriveling weather, I remember the place fondly. Let's see how that weird tangle of frostbite, memory, and current world affairs all fold into the review of the band's new record: "Stormheart".

I've been following these frostbitten bastards since their 2002 album "Религия духовного насилия" ("Religion of Spiritual Violence")—a stumbling piece of mediocrity which should have come with a label: "Will cause shrugging!". Since then, however, the band has moved steadily forward, with the following releases showing a continuous evolution, and here we are looking at "Stormheart". Which - to use a British understatement - surprised me. In plain terms: it floored me. Now that I'm finally back at my desk, thawing out, I'll try to explain what makes this album such a captivating slab of no-frills old-school black metal—one that storms your cynical little heart and freezes it mid-beat.

Let me start where it hurts: the opener, which might throw you off. It's the album's least inspired moment—a bit of a plodder that takes its sweet time before anything worthwhile happens. But I'm convinced that this was done with intent. Like a grey pre-dawn sky before a storm, it sets the contrast. Because what follows is a triad of pure blackened fury that punches you right in the soul. The first highlight being "Northern Starfall", that bursts forward like a possessed wolfpack and crashes through your door like a demon with excellent taste. Melodic tremolos dance with aggression, creating a piece that feels like a well-stitched medley of several Old Wainds songs—unsettling, unpredictable, but completely compelling and coherent. Structurally, it's a controlled avalanche—shifting dynamics, tempo drops, and sudden bursts of galloping madness (check out around the 2:49 mark). The vocals, snarled in Russian, add an extra layer of harshness—there's something about the language that makes black metal sound even more unhinged, like being barked at by a warlock with a grudge.

"Of Night And Ice" picks up the thread, a bit more streamlined but no less ferocious. The variety is dialed down a touch, but it works. You get the sense that the band is really leaning into the storm now. Then comes "In The Heart Of The Storm", which is as literal as black metal gets: you're tossed into a swirling mess of tremolos, harsh melodies, and relentless percussion. Structurally, it's back to the level of excitement that made "Northern Starfall" so gripping. The band allows for slightly longer breathers here and there, but the overall intensity never drops. It's one of those rare tracks that feels longer than it is, in the best possible way. Just listen to the first minute—just the first—and then try, with a straight face, to argue that the birth of black metal wasn't one of humanity's rare good decisions.

After this unholy trinity, the remaining three songs understandably do step out from the spotlight a bit—but calling them "filler" would be like calling a chainsaw "a bit noisy". They struggle to keep up—but that's a high bar to clear. The "drop" in quality is marginal, and more about emotional impact than actual songwriting. Of the final trio, "Snow Swarm" makes the strongest impression, but truthfully, my favorite seems to shift with each listen—a good sign that there's no throwaway track here.

What really stands out is how Old Wainds finally sound like they believe in what they're doing. There's no gimmickry, no empty atmosphere for the sake of it. Just raw, razor-sharp black metal that knows exactly what it wants to say—and says it in a language of frost and fire. In an age where black metal often drowns in reverb and necro-nostalgia, "Stormheart" feels refreshingly focused. In a time when most things coming from Russia trigger dread, cynicism, or both, "Stormheart" is an exception. It's a reminder that, somewhere beyond the propaganda, there's still music—still art—that claws its way out of the blizzard. Brutal, beautiful, and blessedly free of Putin.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10, because even in a country where truth gets annexed and missiles fly like confetti, black metal still knows how to speak the only universal language left: rage in the snow. Every now and then, even the Russian tundra coughs up something that doesn't explode on impact.

Review by Vladimir on October 5, 2024.

There have been many great and unexpected comebacks this year from all corners of the world, but the one that really caught me by surprise is the return of the Russian black metal band Old Wainds, which hadn’t released anything new for the last 10 years or so. Once I saw that the band is coming back with their fifth full-length album Stormheart with the release date of November 27th, 2024 via Darkness Shall Rise Productions, I felt as if I had seen the planets align and of course, I wasn’t going to miss this. Without further ado, let’s have a look at this grim and frostbitten monstrosity. 

Right on from the first track 'Watch The Midnight Unveil', the excitement builds up so well that you get instantly hooked into the magic of Stormheart with its master-crafted grim and cold style of black metal that Old Wainds perfected throughout the years of spreading darkness. Although the overall approach at first seems very standard and familiar for anyone who is heavily into this kind of black metal, it is actually quite hateful and misanthropic as well, with its dynamic range of riff ideas that vary from the heavily predominant use of traditional fast tremolo picking to the mid-tempo heaviness on 'Northern Starfall' to the mesmerizing beauty of 'Of Night And Ice'. There is so much solid gold to be found along the way apart from the first couple of tracks that are just the tip of the iceberg, because even though we were off to a good start, it is just the calm before the storm, that will eventually manifest itself into a roaring blizzard halfway through as it progresses track by track. What Old Wainds managed to achieve so miraculously about this album is the progression, because every song drags you deeper into the Stormheart, with the intense and dark atmosphere in their music holding up so well that you end up being completely possessed by it. It really gets more musically extreme as it goes along, especially on the sixth track 'To The Moonlight' that perhaps showcases their most extreme performance on the album, but the overall execution on here is so unbelievably sick that it’s impossible to not get immersed into its evil and cold winter spell. If you expected a grand climax to take place during the closing track 'Snow Swarm', then what you seek is what you will get, because the finale really comes down like an avalanche descending from the mountain, as it destroys all the living that stands before it. 

When it comes to the overall songwriting that Old Wainds incorporated on Stormheart, you can clearly tell that the song structures are incredibly rich with ideas, which never once lose their edge with the stylistic consistency that carries over between the songs. The flow of this album really feels like one insane journey that brings so much death and mayhem along the way, where you really don’t feel like running away from it, but instead just going more towards the top of the mountain before reaching the conclusion of this story. One thing that I must highlight about their songwriting is that no matter how many traditional black metal elements you will come across here, all the song ideas feel so fresh and deeply expressive as well, where nothing at any given moment feels tedious, repetitive, or generic. I think this is a result of keeping one massive beast under the ice for a total of 10 years, which remains well preserved and intact for ages, and once it bursts out into the world it really doesn’t disappoint. The band absolutely nailed it from the atmosphere to the moderately raw yet highly fitting sound production that does such justice to the entire album, and I think all of it will be considered some of its everlasting qualities. 

All in all, I can’t really say anything else that hasn’t already been said. Old Wainds have returned with one massive and menacing beast of an album that is Stormheart, which turned out to be an incredible journey worth experiencing by every means. Do not miss out on this one, because this is by far one of the best black metal albums of this year, which deserves all the love and support, and I believe there will be many more diehard fans worldwide that will praise its might and magic while spreading the word of Old Wainds triumphant return after 10 years. 

Rating: 9.5 out of 10