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The Frost are officially the first Croatian band I have ever heard of any genre, and in what would appear to be some kind of ironic cosmic joke, it’s a one-man Black Metal band (I just don’t seem to be able to escape them). Lead by a fellow going by the name of Gorgor, this is The Frost’s second demo Damned and Forgotten with the tracks from the first demo In Conspiracy With Nature included as bonus.

The disc starts of with "Under a Spell of the Stellar Night", a trite atmospheric intro with some wolves howling over the sounds of a babbling brook and an acoustic guitar piece that drags on for perhaps a little too long. When the Black Metal finally begins we are treated to an abysmal production. When the drums are blasting (frequently) all you can hear is that terrible lo-fi "washing machine" effect and it just completely removes any opportunity you might have had to enjoy that music because all you can hear is this dissonant white noise-laden pulse of clothes being cleaned. Also, I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s a bass, sort of warbling along in the middle of the mix – imagine a bass that has had the entire bass end removed from its sound as that is what it sounds like. Oddly enough it kind of works in this context, it’s not great but it is different enough to catch your attention without becoming a source of annoyance. The material from In Conspiracy With Nature (tracks 6, 7 and 8) has better production (but it is still lo-fi and ratshit, highlighting the numerous mistakes that Gorgor makes while playing his guitar) and is a little more listenable with a clear Immortal influence lurking behind the Darkthrone worship. However Gorgor just does not have the songwriting ability of Abbath and Co., being more repetitive and by-the-numbers in his approach.

There are some OK but wholly unremarkable tremolo riffs to be found throughout, and these are always audible even over the above mentioned laundromat-a-riffic pulsating. "On the Winter Paths of Solitude" is of particular note with some good riffs and melodies, and even with a running time over nine minutes it does not get boring (even though it is quite repetitive). The In Conspiracy With Nature songs are much more straight up Black Metal, lacking the melodic tremolo riffing of the Damned and Forgotten material, instead relying on more traditional riffing. Again the final track, "…Where the Wolves Paths Lead", is the highlight of this material with some cool riffs (especially the first one).

If I had to choose a single word to describe this collection I would have to say "average". There are a handful of good riffs thrown in among some pretty standard unimaginative Black Metal that is hurt considerably by the production as it is sometimes difficult to tell what is going on (especially when the blasting starts). You probably won’t turn it off in disgust or boredom but neither will you walk away with any memory of what you heard.