Canada’s Nordwind have surfaced with their debut EP Thy Will be Done, a slab of fairly raw and traditional black metal. Nordwind is composed of bassist Chernobog and drummer Kveldulv from Godless North, who perhaps needed something to occupy themselves while guitarist Othalaz is off doing stuff with his other projects. Musically, the four tracks on Thy Will be Done are pretty straightforward black metal with churning, buzzsaw guitars, and poor production values. The one interesting aspect of the album is the vocal performance from Kveldulv. His delivery falls in the lower, more guttural spectrum of black vocals, very much like the infernal growls of Ondskapt’s Acerbus.

Actually, the mid-tempo musical approach combined with the vocals cause Thy Will be Done to sound very much like Ondskapt in places. Although Nordwind’s riffing is not nearly as captivating, the eerie, twisted atmosphere the Nordwind creates is very close to that of Ondskapt’s music. The first track ‘With Flaming Sword’ even starts out with a creepy, arpeggiated riff that could almost have been ripped from one of Ondskapt’s albums.

Nordwind do tend to mix things up a bit over the course of the EP, throwing in some faster-paced passages as well as some ghostly keyboards in ‘With Flaming Sword.’ The four tracks on Thy Will be Done are all pretty similar to one another and are nothing groundbreaking musically, but they do a fine job of fulfilling one’s basal need for dark, disturbing music. I’m eager to see what Nordwind churns out next.

» Buy Thy Will Be Done from Amazon.com