Album Review: Frozen Soul - No Place Of Warmth
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Frozen Soul by this point are no new act. There was a time you’d see them open a night as the first supporting band, now they’re headlining tours across the US and Europe. Formed in 2018 out of Texas, United States, Frozen Soul spearheaded the next generation of death metal alongside Undeath and Tomb Mold, turning heads with their debut 2019 Demo, Encased In Ice. As the world plunged into Covid-19 induced isolation Frozen Soul worked to release their first full length work, Crypt Of Ice, for 2021. Boasting a sound wondrously familiar to Bolt Thrower, Frozen Soul doubled down on their sound for their follow-up release, 2023’s Glacial Domination, a record that saw the band rise to the pedestal they currently retain today, a marked improvement. But with a May 8th release date pencilled in, we have their third record inbound: No Place Of Warmth. Once more released via Century Media Records, No Place Of Warmth sees the band retain the entire roster for the third album running, demonstrating a nicely stable lineup. I’ve only seen Frozen Soul go from strength to strength and I can’t wait to discover what No Place Of Warmth does for them.
Frozen Soul have presence. That’s immediately apparent as the opening track begins, for you can tell they’ve clocked onto how much bigger they’ve become in recent years. As their performance begins you can feel the sledgehammer glistening in the winter light as it’s freezing hammerface goes through your skull. The band have never shied away from creating soundscapes that plummet from great heights or like tank treads press grievous wounds upon the flesh, but No Place Of Warmth cranks that element to eleven with instrumentation weaponised and outlined. There is absolutely no escape from the band and whilst this record plays you are going to listen and you are going to feel every ounce of power Frozen Soul bring to bear. The guitars and bass and drums have been brought to the absolute precipice in line with the vocals, creating a suffocating environment where all else is snuffed out.
As established, Frozen Soul’s tempo is pretty set and given the response many have had regarding their songwriting they’re satisfied with receiving more like it. The tempo of their riffs, akin to the legendary Bolt Thrower, is this trudging, creeping force that is going to reach you no matter how far you run; however I felt this record did the best at varying the songwriting whereby that familiar tempo doesn’t grate on newcomers especially. Perhaps the drums will change up patterns, perhaps the vocals will alter the cadence, slow the delivery into some commanding, unapologetic stance, or maybe the band will throw in a rapid fire track like “Absolute Zero” with blast beats and enough bass to send the yeti to therapy. The years have shown Frozen Soul continuously tweak their songwriting, refining it, to the point throughout this record, they’re reached the apex of their sound’s potential.
The bass is simply monstrous; half the reason No Place Of Warmth is so gargantuan is because the bass tears through solid matter like scissors through silk. Not only does it permeate through every single moment the band are playing, providing that hideous foundational cushioning the band need for their songwriting to play against, but I love how I can actively hear the basslines performed even as the main riffs are played with blunt force tenacity. There are drops in bass across the record akin to Sanguisugabogg, Defeated Sanity and many such titans renowned for their bass. With that said it’s not so massive that it overshadows the rest of the band; it amplifies their individual performances, entwining everything into a single collective assault, funnelled and ready to hit you at full speed akin to a freight train.
One of the band’s greatest strengths has been their vocals, not merely by the delivery but the strength that’s going into that delivery. When one listens to frontman Chad Green one doesn’t just feel his performance, they’ll genuinely believe with every fibre each ounce of sweat that’s gone into every syllable uttered. Like reaching his arm through the cover art to seize your jugular for asphyxiation you know he’s not messing around with his performance. His performance is as dynamic and alterable as any instrumental piece, bringing that crushing, tank-tread aesthetic to vocals just as easily as the band do via riffs or drums. But you’ll find his performance will suddenly cease, change, and now he’s taken command of the pedestal and is driving all beneath and around him to his will. There are also tracks where his vocals will drop rapidly in lieu with the bass and guitars so the whole soundscape legitimately drops several levels, inducing goose flesh and a groaning for carnage.
In conclusion, this truly is Frozen Soul’s finest hour. No Place Of Warmth is the culmination of the band’s entire career, everything they’ve previously worked on and towards. Looking back on every track I realised there wasn’t one where the band fell short, there was something memorable with each one, something to remember them by. It’s why No Place Of Warmth is an Album Of The Year contender in my eyes; Frozen Soul have unlocked the potential I and so many have known they could attain, and should a future tour see these guys return to the shores of the UK I will be there. No question. For thirty-five minutes Frozen Soul lay you out to waste so completely you’ll be dragging your destroyed, shattered form back for more out of sheer adrenaline and power dished out. There’s a reason Frozen Soul have attained such renown so quickly and even the doubters will tune into this record and see their eyebrows rise. There are some guest slots and featured acts here too but it never feels to be a crutch for the band, merely bolstering their innate abilities. I loved this record. It’s a serious hitter.
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