🎶 Frozen Ocean
🌎 Moscow, Russia
📀 Askdrömmar
® Apocalyptic Witchcraft
📅 13/02/2026

FROZEN OCEAN is the musical project of multi-instrumentalist Vaarwel from Moscow. In their 20-year career, FROZEN OCEAN have released several full-length albums and EPs, but between 2015 and 2026 there was a gap in terms of studio albums, which “Askdrommar” comes to fill.

 “Askdrommar” is an absolutely atmospheric album that moves along Melodic Black Metal paths with many Ambient, Electronic and Industrial elements. To understand exactly the atmosphere and the scenery that its 9 songs convey, just take a look at the cover and you will immediately make the connection. One by one, the songs could be the soundtrack of an urban car ride. But not in Stockholm (since the lyrics are in Swedish) or Moscow. As strange as it may seem, Tokyo came to mind with its tall buildings, endless colorful lights and millions of people moving on the streets.

And now that we have established the setting, let’s look at the music. The vocals clearly refer to Black Metal origins, but the compositions are much more than that. The melancholic mood prevails in many cases, such as in “Bortkastade dödsrunor” with the repeated guitar motifs, the melodic Black makes its appearance more strongly in others, such as in “Andas in neonregn”, while the keyboards give a more Progressive aesthetic to “I Lyktornas sken”. The tempo fluctuates in intensity without, however, straying from a certain range that aims not to disturb for a second the atmosphere that Vaarwel builds with such effort and musical diversity. Finally, there are spoken parts, which, however, for non-Swedes, do not offer anything special except a sense of narrative mood.

Atmospheric, diverse and strangely beautiful or rather beautifully strange… these are the descriptions I would give to “Askdrömmar”, which is a well-crafted album with attention to detail. It is not the easiest listen for traditional metal fans, but it does require an open mind and an experimental mood.

★ 8/10
✍🏻 Kostas Boudoukos