First full-length for Frozen Soul.
Created in 2018 in the United States by Chad Green (vocals, End Time, ex-Vulgar Display), Michael Munday (guitar, End Time, ex-Wildspeaker) and Samantha Mobley (bass, ex-Vermiculated), the band now counts on Matt Dennard (drums, ex-Humanerror) and Chris Bonner (guitar, ex-Obstruction) to defend the colors of Crypt of Ice.
What livens the Americans up is the roots of Death Metal. And if they collaborate with Century Media Records for this first album, it’s because this Old School Death Metal is qualitative. The band’s influences are recognizable since the very first song, and this greasy sound blows us away in an instant. A warlike rhythmic borrowed to the style’s giants, massive howlings and putrid harmonics that come out of a thick sound, here is what the band is able to do. Riffs are sometimes vicious like on Arctic Stranglehold or very slow and crushing on Encased in Ice, but all are powerful and ice-cold. The band can deliver some virulent fast parts as well as some heady leads like on Faceless Enemy, but it is mainly the rhythmic session that dominates, as on Beat To Dust or Twist The Knife. The add of samples and ambient parts at the beginning of tracks like Gravedigger, the last composition, allows the band to strike us at full force with their firsts riffs, then to smash us until the end of the song.
I admit I just discovered Frozen Soul with this album, and Crypt of Ice is my first good surprise of the year. This full-length smells weeping Old School Death Metal to the marrow, and it’s an excellent first debut!
90/100