Frozen Ocean is stirring once again.
Created in Russia in 2005 by Vaarwel (vocals/all instruments, Big Guns, Goatpsalm, Meister Leonhardt, Poceluy bomzha…), the project was initially very prolific, sometimes releasing several albums and EPs in the same year, before slowing down dramatically. In 2026, the musician finally announced the release of his twelfth album, Askdrömmar, via Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings.
Mangata begins with an unsettling sound, a feeling I had when I saw the cover of Mosa Eye (Autopsy Night, Autumn Woods, Druknroll, Egor Lappo, Vistery…), but which quickly gives way to bass, drums, guitars, and finally raw vocals, creating a contrast with the disturbing softness. The intoxicating mix suddenly comes to an end, leaving a few words to carry us away to Bortkastade dödsrunor, where the keyboard welcomes us into its melancholy, quickly broken by a simple but thick rhythm from which the vocals emerge with a bang. We are allowed to catch our breath for a moment with this softer passage, but saturation and growls return with a vengeance to lead us to Andas in neonreg, a much shorter track than the previous one, which immediately envelops us in its aggressiveness, sometimes overwhelmed by the sweetness of the melodies supported by the rhythm. A visibly lively discussion introduces Gristimmar, a composition with futuristic keyboards that easily complement the darkness and tortured vocals, enlivening the tones to make them haunting before handing over to Jag sover, which brings us a more digestible, but also almost more joyful Post-Rock touch, once again playing on contrast. The track is a little short, and we move on to I lyktornas sken, which remains melancholic while embellishing it with a few more airy notes to break up the repetitiveness of the rhythm on the long instrumental parts, then Köttkvar begins with a cybernetic voice before letting the old-school influences do their work to make the riffs quite rocky. Once again, the harmonics give the song a floating feel, which eventually fades away on its own before moving on to Langt lopp genom mörkret and its futuristic sounds that pave the way for a very raw sound, giving the song an interesting cosmic touch, which is also abruptly broken before Brunkebergstunneln offers us an unexpected groove, also complemented by omnipresent spacey synthesizers that ultimately prove soothing for the darkness. And suddenly, silence falls.
I had no idea what to expect from Frozen Ocean, and in the end, I discovered a very pleasant cold sound on Askdrömmar. Sometimes catchy, sometimes tinged with Post-Rock or Post-Punk influences, but always raw and controlled, the album will require several listens to reveal its full essence.
90/100
