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This is the second disc I've gotten from David Gold's new Krankenhaus label, and the third CD from this band from waaaaay up north. Vanquished hail from North Bay, Ontario in Canada, and even bill themselves as 'Northern Ontario Black Metal', I guess to distinguish themselves from the rest of the Canadian scene. They seem especially keen to not be known as a Toronto band, for some reason. I wonder why that would be.

Vanquished play well-produced high-speed Black Metal in the vein of more recent Marduk, but with a very sharp guitar sound and a definite Death Metal sound to the kick drums. "Ravaging The Shores" is pretty good, but "Immemorial" is more generic. Fortunately the next two tracks are the killer "Weaving Time In Vain" and "Ruins Of Religious Tradition", followed by the title track, which is also very good. This is all fast, and that does render the disc as a whole kind of faceless, as these songs are all at the same speed, with almost no variation. I do wish these guys would slow down a little, or do something to inject some dynamic. But overall "Black Northern Storm" is an enjoyable listen. There is an annoying space-waster tacked on to the end of track 8 in the form of 12 minutes of wave noises. Then you get the 'bonus' track which is just a keyboard piece, which is rather pointless as there are no keys anywhere else on the CD. If you like Marduk or later Darkthrone then this is an enjoyable high-speed blastfest to check out.