Controversial Finnish black metal institution Goatmoon is back with new opus. This one contains eight songs. Why controversial? Because many tie Goatmoon to some not good political themes, but this is not the issue here. The music and atmosphere is. I always admired how Goatmoon under management of one Blackgoat Gravedesecrator who writes music and his friends and session musicians help him at gigs, gets to create such superb melancholy plus aggression atmosphere with such epic guitar melodies coupled with synths and tortured screaming vocals. This is Nordic pure black metal par excellence. I love how Goatmoon progressed from raw black metal roots to more epic black, backed with domicile northern folk synth melodies and inspired by cold and bleak surroundings of the North. My personal favorites on this beautiful record are: ‘Raging With The Lion’s Blood’, ‘What Once Was…’ and ‘Protector Of The North’.

9/10