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I got to know of Will Of The Ancients because of David Gold, who is also the drummer/mainman behind Woods of Ypres. A lot of people hated WOY's first album, so if you hated it, don't worry, because this doesn't sound like WOY at all. Yes, WOTA also plays Melodic Black metal, but the two bands aren't even comparable. WOY uses a bunch of acoustic guitars and so, but this band is heavier, more aggressive, and focuses more on distorted riffs mixed with some all-around harsh vocals. I'll admit it right now though, the vocals sound a bit weird from time to time (like when two vocalists are singing, and their two different tones don't match). All that stuff aside, Cold Grim Times is a strong debut, with immaculate production, and they definitely have what it takes to make it big in the Melodic Black metal field.

The riffs aren't all black/melodic black though. Some of the stuff on here sounds more like Melo-death (Like the intro of "Vengeance Is My Vice", for instance). The verse riff in that song also sounds a bit like melo-death, but with a somewhat rawer tone. I guess it can be called Melodic Black, but I'd rather call it (or that whole song) Melo-Death. A few keyboards pop in from time to time, but the good thing about them is that they never take over the riffs (Like in "Set In A Twilight Tragedy"), which is something a lot of bands fail to accomplish these days. Another good thing about this album is that riffs are always different. All the songs are very memorable, even if a few riffs are too cliché and generic. The highlight has to be "Cold Grim Times". The first riff starts off with a brutal drum beat with an original melodic riff that made me want to headbang forever. Even if the song is only 3:45 in length, it has a lot of riffs and changes tempo pretty often.

So the bottom line is that even though some riffs on this debut album did sound a bit too generic, the final result is a great Melodic Black metal album that most fans of the genre should appreciate.