Dragon Flight Recordings -- Various Artists: The Cold The Silent, 2000 [Last Sigh Magazine]

Track Listing
1. A Dirge for the Approaching Season (Noctorath)
2. Somnolent (Dream Into Dust)
3. Silence Cast Thy Vail (Chants for the Fallen)
4. Hell and Back (4th Sign of the Apocalypse)
5. The Hunger Inside (As All Die)
6. Ever Dark Green (Skepticism)
7. Slit Their Throats to the Spine (Krieg)
8. The Shedding (Ember)
9. Dawn Breaks (November's Doom)
10. Beneath the Silent Moon (Ningizzia)
11. Nihilist (Shellyz Raven)
12. When I Fall (Veinke)
13. Codex Void (Canaan)

    "The Cold, The Silent" is a sampling of various American and European artists, some of whom record on the Dragon Flight Record label. Individual themes on the compilation are appropriately similar, each reiterating the title. However, styles are divided between the haunting and majestic, and the seething and sadistic.
    Noctorath's "A Dirge for the Approaching Season," sets the tone. Opening with the sound of a downpour, melancholy chords suddenly give way to a majestic sweeping string section that conjures up images of winter marching across the land, covering everything in its path. Dissonant tinkling sounds and ominous chords lead us into Dream Into Dust's "Somnolent." A languid, yet vaguely threatening voice intones about dark blackness and cold shadows.
    The other songs on the CD echo the sounds and sentiments of winter and death, though not all in a sad, sleepy manner. "Slit Their Throats To the Spine" by Krieg begins with sarcastic, spiteful spoken word that leads into a fast, furious bloodbath of shattering sound and screaming, fiendish vocals. Ember's "The Shedding" could be called The Shredding, as it resembles speed metal.
    The collection offers surprises, including Shellyz Raven's "Nihlist, " which borrows lines from a Paul Simon classic, and "Codex Void" by Canaan, which invokes the spirit of predecessors such as Christian Death. "The Cold, The Silent" is an musically eclectic exploration of the human fascination with that is born to die.