Like all other metal genres there are numerous sub-genres or styles associated with the evolution of bands and the genre communities they represent. Death metal is no stranger and it is now a firm belief in my mind that a new form of old-school and primitive sound is now making itself known across the most extreme of all metal.
Frozen Soul, hailing from Fort Worth, Texas have released second album “Glacial Domination” which has solidified a new primitive form of death metal I have dubbed the “Coventry Sound.” For those of you frowning at that name, the Coventry Sound is a style of death metal pioneered by Coventry band Bolt Thrower and continued today through BT’s new incarnation, Memoriam along with numerous other old-school DM bands across the world.
The main characteristics of this sound are a focus on the less technical forms of death metal and less emphasis on blast beats, complex guitars and harkening back to the genres roots in crust punk or grindcore. Frozen Soul have perfected this on their new album with tunes covering dark magic, ice, snow and all kinds of mythologies that surround the winter months and its importance to the ecological prowess of society and nature. Opening track “Invisible Tormentor” will get you hooked by making you think this is a deleted Bolt Thrower record and “Morbid Effigy” brings the release to a level of awe that only death metal can obtain.
Frozen Soul are the kind of band you want to add to your collection if you like DM that is both fast and punky yet slow and brutal at the same time. “Glacial Domination” takes the frosty outlook of the band to a new level with the longest song lasting just over five minutes – something that will make you smile if you’re bored to too many progressions in DM.
I’d say this is an album that can reach across scenes to fans of the technical as well as the old school sounds of DM as each tune showcases Frozen Soul’s talents. I for one see them as the most impressive band of the last few years having rated their debut album “Crypt of Ice” very high back in 2021. So if you are a DM fan who wants more albums that show how the old ways can remain as strong and putrid as ever, give Frozen Soul a try.
An ideal piece of music for those who love the extremes of music and want to be reminded of just how easy said music is able to create by nodding to those who took the most primitive roots of metal and made them a new form of extreme. A great job all round.
(9/10 Demitri Levantis)
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