FROZEN SOUL
FROZEN SOUL “Glacial Domination”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Texas’ FROZEN SOUL is one of the new generation of death metal bands stepping up to the plate and trying to take the torch from the giants of old. That is a super difficult task, because almost all of these bands just sound like an echo of what has gone before. In FROZEN SOUL’s case, they obviously are BOLT THROWER’s junior division and I imagine vocalist Chad Green spends a lot of time in front of a mirror polishing his best Karl Willets tones.
Out of all the new “primitive” death metal bands getting big publicity...the group includes SANGUISUGABOGG, 200 STAB WOUNDS, and UNDEATH...FROZEN SOUL to me is the most accomplished. Their BOLT THROWER worship sometimes reaches creep-out levels, but they are damn good at it and they understand the mechanics of that style very well. The riffing is beefy, easy to digest and has the “battering ram” quality of steady destruction that made the Brits so devastating. And “Glacial Domination” does seem to be a step up from the “Entombed in Ice” debut, as it experiments a bit more without going overboard. The result is an album that entertains from first to last if you aren’t really picky.
The first four tracks just focus on sludgy down-tuned crush, with “Arsenal of War” being the best of the bunch. The sci-fi synth interlude “Annihilation” is a kind of dividing line, as songs after that seem to be more musically advanced, featuring some nuanced and even melodic lead guitar, as on the title track and “Frozen Soul”. “Abominable” almost qualifies as an epic for these guys, even though it’s under five minutes in length.
As good as the album gets, there’s still something slightly off-putting about how obvious the BOLT THROWER cloning is. The song “Best Served Cold” fades in just like “Cenotaph” did years ago and seems almost to be coming out of an all-purpose BOLT THROWER injection mold. To give a mainstream analogy, they are like the death metal equivalent of GRETA VAN FLEET knocking off LED ZEPPELIN. It keeps FROZEN SOUL from getting the apex mark from me, but for just sheer headbanging enjoyment, “Glacial Domination” gets the job done.