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I was browsing through my regular webstores looking for some killer shit to add to my collection, when I stumbled across this CD, and after reading the short description, I immediately added it to my basket to check out. Fimbul were an obscure gem of a 2nd wave, mid-nineties black metal one man band who only ever got around to releasing two demos - "Vinterland", and "Det Siste Slaget" (both of which are conveniently compiled on this CD).

The sound is suitable for the period it came from, and as the CD contains demo material, it has all the usual dirty pops, sound drop outs and grimy earthiness you'd expect (and if you're anything like me, you'll think it adds to the authenticity of the overall package). However, the main thing is that the quality of the music comes through like a beacon through the grey mist of the production, with cavernous, echoing guitars reverberating through the distant clatter of drums, and the raw vocal work clawing and spitting at your face like a volatile rabid animal. There is a clean majestic feel to some of the music in the form of pure ambient sections, fitting perfectly in the true Norwegian vein of the likes of Burzum's 'Filosefem' and Enslaved's earliest work, and there's also a nice nod to early Manes in the kind of simplistic, haunting tones that somehow manage to resonate through flesh to chill the very bones. The aural equivalent of an icy raindrop falling down the back of your neck.

Candarian Demon Productions certainly seem to have dug up a classy and relatively unknown act in the form of Fimbul, that seems to manage to embody the spirit of Norwegian black metal so well that it made me want to dust off the classics again. A word of warning though, if you want to get this for your own collection, be quick as stock is strictly limited. Pretty damn good, even if I do say so myself.