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FROZEN SOUL
Glacial Domination

Century Media (2023)
Rating: 8/10

I find it slightly odd that Trivium’s Matt Heafy should be drafted in to help produce this eagerly awaited sophomore outing from frosty death metal brigade Frozen Soul. The Texas band’s 2021 debut full-length outing Crypt Of Ice, even with its Bolt Thrower influences, was an impressive tome, but this time round the quintet has progressed greatly. Sure, you still get blasted by the blizzards of belligerence and the hails of cold horror, but everything this time feels more measured and mature.

That’s not to say that Frozen Soul has sacrificed any of its ash-coated juggernaut tendencies. However, there are more melodious segments and Heafy gets a co-writing credit on ‘Abominable’ which is basically evidence of evolution in the making for the band. Other notable surprises are ‘Arsenal Of War’ with its solos and ‘Assimilator’ with its varying tempos.

Naturally the album still churns in a similar fashion to the debut which so infectiously dragged us into its permafrost, and so there is plenty of bludgeoning to behold such as on ‘Morbid Effigy’ which features guest vocals from Dying Fetus frontman John Gallagher. Elsewhere, ‘Best Served Cold’ is rhythmically spasmodic in its riffage and savage with its breakdown, while opener ‘Invisible Tormentor’ is a groove-laden monstrosity of the highest order.

Hardcore events drift into this album like once frozen vapours now reduced to white dust by the sun and swept up by the gale. Through such a tundra I still believe that Frozen Soul may divide death metal fans and they certainly aren’t the high and mighty Everest of the scene that some will lead you to believe. Even so, Glacial Domination does enough to showcase a diversity and power that will prompt its audience to continue with the arctic puns. Frozen Soul is the cold snap that cracks your bones and turns your blood to ice.

Neil Arnold

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