Old Wainds – Oбжигающий Холодный

Old Wainds is a dark nordic black metal from the icy wastes of Murmansk. As many of you may know, Murmansk is a Russian city situated north of the Arctic Circle near the Norwegian and Finnish borders. Why is it important in a metal review? Given that, the sound you find on Oбжигающий Холодный (trans. ‘Scalding Coldness‘) is cold, icy, raw and with a frostbitten nature like in the region of Murmansk.

Scalding Coldness, originally released back in 1995, and now remastered and re-released by Darkness Shall Rise Productions in February 2026, which was suitably cold in the whole of Europe. This, a third full-length instalment from Old Wainds, is, completely justified, considered a standout in the band’s discography, effectively capturing an, at times, evil and desolate atmosphere. It’s on Scalding Coldness that their compositions are presented with a proper studio production for the first time. Clocking in at over forty minutes the record consists of eight proficiently composed tracks of hateful coldness. Thus, Scalding Coldness combines fast-paced, blasting black metal with occasional thrashy and melodic moments. The musicianship is great and confident, with guitars that sounds like a howling winter storm, often extremely cold, harsh and reminiscent of early Bathory (Quorthon). Therefore, the guitars (sharp and varied), are sometimes creating thrashy riffs like in “Through the Icy Wilderness of the Forest”, or the slow and melodic moments in “…in the Glance of the Dead”, and even beautiful solo at the beginning of “Wolves in White’. In many albums of this style, the bass is often buried, but on this record, it provides a surprisingly thick foundation, being harsh and ‘clanky’ whille filling the space beneath the high-gain, freezing tremolo picking typical of the Murmansk scene. Ultimately, the drums are terse and crisp, cutting through the wall of distorted guitars without sounding artificial.

These two songs are the definitive and complete tracks from the album for me; “Freezing Winter Breath” being the most direct and confrontational track on the record. It delivers a compact burst of double bass and grinding guitars that establish an immediate, aggressive narrative. Another of my favorites is the one previously mentioned, “Through Icy Wilderness of the Forest” – due to its thrashier passages and catchy riffs, providing a faster, more direct contrast to the atmospheric opener.

Production is uncompromising, a sheer bleak and icy atmosphere with fittingly bleak sound. Remastered by Jack Control and Maor Appelbaum at ‘Enormous Door’ in order to enhance the ‘grim, barbaric, ice-cold’ quality of the tracks. I think they’ve succeed because this is a high-quality, atmospheric, yet aggressive release, where obviously this re-release marks a shift toward a cleaner and more professional studio production compared to their earlier, more dirty and bestial demos. On Scalding Coldness this Murmansk-based quartet effectively captures an evil and desolate atmosphere. The cover art again depicts a desolate, snow-covered tundra under a dark sky, aligning with the band’s lyrical themes of northern nature and eternal winter. This recent reissue by Darkness Shall Rise Productions features a complete restored layout that maintains this grim, frostbitten aesthetic.

Now remastered and available on vinyl, in complete restored layout, Scalding Coldness is an absolute must-listen for worshippers of early Immortal, Bathory, Darkthrone, Burzum, Deathspell Omega, Behemoth and other similarly and correspondingly raw, primitive and icy sounding black metal bands. More info on this particular re-release at label’ bandcamp.