Ambient black metal can be hard to pull off well. It leans heavily on repetition and relatively simple parts for the sake of atmosphere, yet the repetition can easily become repetitious and thus dull. It also helps to have some sense of melody, so as to give the listener something to latch onto. Too much melody, however, can hurt the mood. Given these constraints, the music also has to be distinctive enough that it doesn't blend in with the dozens of other, similar acts out there.

In many ways, Walknut is a very typical ambient black metal group. Though accusations of being a Burzum knockoff have been inevitably tossed around, the sound resembles Pagan Hammer more than Varg's legendary act. Still, though, you have the droning guitars that move along simple, slow riffs overlaid upon blasting drums with an anguished vocalist at the fore. Even the name of the album, Graveforests and Their Shadows, sounds like the usual grim, frost-bitten cliche. About the only atypical element is the rarity of the keyboards, which are really only noticeable in the intro and "Grim Woods".

Yet, somehow, the album works, and it works very well. Honestly, it's difficult for me to articulate why. The band is a side project of members of other prominent Russian groups, such as Temnozor and Forest, which, political ideology aside, are known for excellence. This points toward likely quality, but pedigree alone does not guarantee good music.

Really, and it's basically a cop-out to say it, the atmosphere makes the album. The drumming provides the baseline for this. I lied about the blasting earlier; the primary mode is a near constant, often rapid pulse with the occasional flourish thrown in, lending the music a sense of urgency and menace. The guitars lurk beneath the surface of this drumming with murky, dark riffs, sharing the mix in equal measure. Vocals are infrequent and fairly ordinary, but when they appear, they rupture forth in a tortured scream that is all the more powerful because of the underlying music. The overall impression is one of a deep forest at midnight, and seldom does a band nail the atmosphere this well.

That said, it's not entirely perfect. Though the songs are more varied than one would expect, ranging from the majestic "Motherland Ostvengr" to the threatening "Grim Woods", the feel of the album can still get overly similar at times. In addition, the interlude and the conclusion, "The Midnight Forest of the Runes" and "Skinfaxi", seem underdeveloped and overly brief. It's also not as gripping as it could be compared to some of the masterpieces of the genre, but, again, it's difficult to point out why this is.

Despite these flaws, though, this is a great slab of black metal. If you go in expecting killer riffs and blinding technicality, you'll be disappointed, but if it's atmosphere you seek, you can hardly go wrong.