There’s a lot of bands within the underground death metal scene who are carrying the legacy and torch to pave the way in honor to pay tribute and homage to some of the finest artist’s throughout the old school death metal sound and formula. Meet Frozen Soul, a death metal band from Fort Worth, Texas who are a band I have been familiar with for quite sometime. Released through Century Media Records, this album demonstrated themselves to create a record filled with the darkest, frosted and sprinkled magic arrangements of music I can remember for quite sometime but for a band in the underground department who’s style of death metal is heavily influenced by Bolt Thrower, Tomb Mold, Asphyx and early material from Mortician, Frozen Soul gave me a huge impression of what the genre is all about.
From their amazing craftsmanship, technical skill, proficiency being absolutely on point and production giving that raw, abrasive and cohesive touch, it will make you travel all the way back to the mid to late 90’s of the death metal signature sound that many bands have copied and borrowed multiple times but Frozen Soul to me are one of the most highlighted artists in the genre who do it perfectly. Musically, this album blended the right amounts of atmosphere where I truly feel the talent these musicians demonstrated us has never failed to disappoint me because the way I see it, is the fact they know exactly what to do making the songs feel cold, frosty, shivering and most importantly they’ve improved themselves dramatically after giving people a first glance of their 2018 demo Encased In Ice which is not only your typical run to the mill death metal material featuring echoing vocals, sluggish guitars, mid-tempo melodies and punching slabs of monolithic pulses to encapsulate your heart that desires but with Crypt Of Ice, they’ve studied long and hard to incorporate everything that demo brought, put it in a blender and added some interest dynamics and compositions that have yet been different and naturalistic.
But when it comes to the actual music, this band is pretty much what Bolt Thrower would’ve been which in retrospect, paying their influences to a band like them is really worth mentioning because when you hear the song Merciless for example, not only this track is full of brutality and little bit technical on the instrumental side but I noticed there’s hint of the traditional New York styled of brutal death metal say like Internal Bleeding or Dehumanized which may be mistaken by my analogy but as a critic, I like to observe, learn each instrument, and their sound to fit in with how well audible and sharp these instruments are aligned with each other giving it a nice atmospheric, almost doomy essence styled melodies where other tracks such as Hand Of Vengeance and Encased In Ice bringing that death/doom metal sensation almost giving a huge Rippikoulu and Paradise Lost vibe in this case, Frozen Soul’s appreciation and admiration for bringing back the older formula of death metal is remarkable and it pulled off miraculously well. Crypt Of Ice not only is a fantastic album start to finish but for fans of Sanguisugabogg, Bolt Thrower, Torture Rack and Mammoth Grinder who love to get their hands frosty will rest but surely find something to expand a new discovery for the extreme metal world and Frozen Soul’s music is going to impact many lives throughout the next decade and onward.
Overall score: 9.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
