Imagine sitting by yourself on a hill in the heart of winter, in the middle of the night gazing on a lake, its shores packed with thawing ice. The wolves of loneliness howl in the nocturnal darkness and the only light visible is the moon's reflection on the lake's ominous surface. It's cold enough to freeze the life out of you; another lethal blizzard gnaws on your bones. You know you're not leaving here.

Still, engulfed in sombre thoughts of peril, there's nowhere in the world you'd rather be, for this is the place you've chosen to spend your eternity in. Removed from the toil, departed from the cycle of mundane existence. Here, the sound of the wolves and breeze will be your final lullaby, the madrigal for the sleep never-ending. Isolation, tranquility, introverted hate, agony, cessation; these are the auditory imagery of multinational (Canadian/Estonian/Finnish) extreme metal project Põhjast's music.

Paying their honors to ruthless beauty and lethality of nature and the Scandinavian Black Metal tradition of Bathory, Immortal and the like, the international foursome has with Thou Strong, Stern Death conjured an atmospheric masterpiece of almost mythical proportions - the soundtrack of departing this world for a purer one.