Gareth check out the latest release from TX Death Metallers Frozen Soul, we’ve been loving this since it dropped into our promo lists, and here’s what he thinks…

When someone describes a band as “reminded me of Bolt Thrower at times” then you really don’t need much more incentive than that to review their new release. ‘Glacial Domination’ is Frozen Soul’s sophomore release, following on from 2021 debut ‘Crypt of Ice’.

With a disturbing, tense, echoey, metallic resonance and a Yeti like roar from Chad Green, Invisible Tormentor comes blasting out of the speakers like a sonic avalanche, spewing out riffs and blast beats like huge slabs of ice, a great way to start, it then eases into more of a mid-tempo groove, before slowing down to a glacier like crawl towards the end. I definitely get the BT reference, those massive rolling riffs, and Green certainly has a similar tone to Karl Willets, but I also detect some Obituary and early Grave in the sound, but Frozen Soul certainly have their own identity, and their USP is the COLD, which they cleverly weave into the lyrics, song titles and imagery.

Arsenal of War is up next and starts with some cool, atmospheric effects, overall, a bit faster, but effortlessly slipping into a slower gear occasionally throughout for contrast, while Death and Glory could easily have come off the cutting room floor of ‘Warmaster’, guitarists Michael Munday and Chris Bonner trading riffs like kids in a snowball fight. Haunting keys introduce us to the eerie Morbid Effigy which then segues into the choppy, chunky midsection. Annihilation is a cool, creepy keyboard interlude that breaks the album up, and has an almost cheesy 80’s horror film soundtrack sound to it, but in a good way. The title-track is possibly my favourite, it’s a little bit more melodic and sees the band branch out into a slightly different direction, with super catchy riffing, but is still crushingly heavy. The eponymous Frozen Soul and Assimilator roll together to form one epic track based on John Carpenter’s The Thing movie, and lyrically it covers all sorts of themes, that are touched upon in the film, such as anger, revenge, paranoia, etc. while musically it also covers lots of ground, slow and grinding in places, then blizzardy quick in others, a very strong centrepiece.

Heading into the final straight, Best Served Cold is as savage a 3-minute track as you’ll find, while Abominable is an absolute beast of a track (pun very much intended), with lots of frozen hard riffs and whirling rhythms, while closing track Atomic Winter has a bit more of an old school vibe and was apparently put together with some left over riffs from ‘Crypt of Ice’ that were left on the shelf because they didn’t know how to use them previously, well they have certainly done them justice now.

The band have also managed to pull off a massive coup by getting Trivium main man Matt Heafy to produce the record (he also co-wrote a track) and he has fashioned this super heavy and clear sound, with a devastatingly heavy guitar tone and a super thick rhythm section, provided by Samantha Mobley (bass) and Matt Dennard (drums). If you’re into old school death metal, don’t get cold feet, go and give ‘Glacial Domination’ a spin, you won’t be disappointed, you’ll soon be chilling out and banging your head, and that’s snow joke.

Gareth check out the latest release from TX Death Metallers Frozen Soul we’ve been loving this since it dropped into our promo lists, and here’s what he thinks…

Out today the 19th May on Century Media Records