Rimfrost – A Journey to a Greater End (2005 EP) Review | Raw Swedish Black Metal
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Before they turned into the frostbitten melodic force they’re known for today, the Swedish trio Rimfrost burst onto the underground scene with their debut EP, A Journey to a Greater End...
This 2005 release is a raw, confident three-track effort that pays homage to second-wave black metal.
It channels the icy intensity of Immortal but also pulls in influences from other iconic bands.
You can pick up hints of early Dissection, the aggressive vibe of Marduk, and even some of the chilly melodic flair that reminds you of Naglfar’s earlier stuff.
The guitars have a strong thrash backbone, and you can hear glimpses of death metal’s accuracy that they would descend deeper into as their career progressed. Even at this early stage, Rimfrost wasn’t just mimicking a formula — they were putting their own Scandinavian twist on it.
The EP kicks off right away — long songs, relentless blasts, and a wall of riffs that barely gives you a chance to catch your breath.
“A Frozen World Unknown” stands out with a ten-minute onslaught of tremolo lines and pounding rhythms, while “Darken” cranks up the chaos even more, delivering a whirlwind of riffs that nearly overwhelm you.
Lyrically, they're sticking to classic black metal themes, focusing more on cold isolation and northern landscapes rather than Satan. There’s this intense clash of inner strength against the surrounding emptiness. You get this bleak sense of heroism in the imagery — frozen realms, ancient halls, and warriors trudging through desolate lands. It nails that early black metal vibe where myth, nature, and personal struggle collide.
There’s a youthful rawness to the songwriting that might wander at times but always feels passionate, capturing the wild spirit of black metal before things got polished.
Rimfrost's vocals, reminiscent of Abbath’s icy snarl, ground the EP firmly in second-wave tradition, but you can already see their unique identity starting to show. That identity becomes clearer in their later work, where they tighten up their production, enhance their melodic flair, and mix in more blackened thrash and melodic death metal.
By the time they released albums like Veraldar Naglfar and their self-titled 2016 album, they had really evolved — better structures, more dynamic writing, clearer vocals, and a chillier, more defined riff style that went beyond their early Immortal homage into something distinctly their own.
A Journey to a Greater End… captures a moment when the band was still figuring things out, sharpening their skills, but they had a level of confidence many bands don’t reach until much later.
It serves as an exciting glimpse into Rimfrost’s roots in Swedish black metal — raw, frostbitten, and bursting with ambition that would later drive them to a more polished and powerful sound.
Tracklist:
01. At The Mighty Halls They'll Walk – 6:11
02. A Frozen World Unknown – 10:17
03. Darken – 8:19
Credits:
Throllv Väeshiin - Drums
Hravn Decmiester - Guitars, Vocals
Frozthirw - Bass
Jonas Kjellgren - Producer, Mixing, Mastering
Recorded at Black Lounge Studios, Grangärde, Sweden.
Links
Bandcamp1 * Bandcamp 2 * Bandcamp 3 * Facebook * Homepage * Instagram * Youtube
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