Richard HolmesFrozen Soul – Crypt Of Ice (Century Media)
It’s a good time to be a fan of old school, down and dirty death metal.
There’s plenty of life left in veteran acts such as Benediction, Cadaver, Vader and Incantation – as 2020 proved.
And the likes of LIK, Necrot and Carnation are honing their songcraft with each release.
But there’s a slew of bands bubbling up from the underground – such as Undeath and Live Burial – who mainline the primordial sludge of DM’s past and spew forth glistening works of gristle and groove.
And you can now add Frozen Soul to that list.
On their debut, the Texans’ deliver total sonic obliteration via sky splitting riffs and tectonic percussion.
The quintet boast a true mastery of death dynamics, switching tempos to increase the tension or just letting their songs fly free.
And you know that, deep, Repulsion-style bass sound that gave grindcore its name? It’s there too.
Songs like Faceless Enemy, Hand Of Vengeance and Encased In Ice echo the titanic majesty of Bolt Thrower – and not just because vocalist Chad Green has a few flecks of Karl Willetts’ spittle in his mighty roar…
Frozen Soul know how to energise their riffs without over-complicating them, how to build up the rhythmic battery to Def Con 1 and crucially, how to keep it simple when they need to. They’ve mastered that approach. And they apply it to devastating effect across Crypt Of Ice.
Do Frozen Soul push at DM’s boundaries a la Blood Incantation or Cryptic Shift?
No.
But their roots death metal is an Arctic blast of passion and fury, which will permeate every layer or skin, fat, muscle and bone.
You have been warned.
