Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Frostbite
Label: Tmina Records
Release: year_month
Runtime: 45:15
Rating: 4/5
In the sitcom The Goldbergs, the ultimate tribute to the eighties, there’s one of the best definitions of why Rush are such a great band: »They’re from Canada. It’s super cold, so they have to rock super hard to stay warm.« That definition could easily be stretched to dozens of Canadian metal bands, from Voivod, Devin Townsend (plus Strapping Young Lad), Annihilator, Gorguts, Exciter, Razor, Quo Vadis, Slaughter and plenty of others. With their debut Etching Obscuritiy, Montreal’s Frostbite have big potential to join those elite names too.
Don’t let the cover, which vaguely recalls Tool’s Lateralus, fool you, because Frostbite have little in common with them, maybe just a progressive streak in the music. On their debut, Frostbite convincingly and skillfully weave a web of black metal, progressive metal and death metal, mostly of the Gothenburg school, and what they do is distinctive enough, with enough originality, that you can’t just casually draw parallels with other similar bands. Etching Obscurity is an album densely sown with acoustic interludes, memorable melodies, well-developed ideas, carefully considered moves and a strong instrumental performance. The latter is probably the album’s strongest side, since the instrumental four-piece has a ton to offer – mighty, varied riffs, a barrage of black metal outbursts, melodic passages that sometimes recall Gothenburg death metal and other times, here and there, Death ere Symbolic (The Pest, Sigil Seal) and Vreid, while the solos aren’t just run-of-the-mill arpeggios and sweeps (the almost bluesy solo in Malleus is a nice proof). The rhythm section keeps up too; the bass is well audible and varied, and makes for some interweaving with the guitar riffs, while the drums are powerful and don’t rely only on blast-beating, but in their variety are at times almost jazzy.
But an instrumental picture, however good, would easily fade if you took the vocals away, and here too Frostbite do superbly. Krystal Koffin commands the songs with a raspy, raw growl and an authority and conviction that only a handful of female vocalists in extreme metal can boast. After the suitably atmospheric intro Ascending the Void, a wonderful lead-in to the next ten tracks, Krystal and the guys lead us down a road paved with cold, Immortal-esque atmosphere (thematically only, less so musically), cut through with real progressive masterpieces full of unexpected rises and falls, twists and tempo changes. Sigil Seal, The Pest, the hammer-heavy Malleus with an excellent chorus, Through the Grave and Soul Devourer are flat-out competing over which one is more brutally epic. Frostbite season their majestic musical picture with a cello in Delayed Perception and Shining (the attempt at clean vocals isn’t entirely successful, though).
Truth be told, Etching Obscurity suffers from just one weakness. The end of the album, which should have been the absolute peak, is sadly its absolute weakest part. Sure, Forgotten Path is just one track out of eleven, but it manages to completely wreck the excellent flow and the common thread running from Soul Devourer to the fitting acoustic closer Erased From Existence. It probably wouldn’t be such a noticeable flaw if Frostbite hadn’t built things up so superbly from the intro onward, but as it is, the second-to-last track sticks out of the whole like Lemmy’s wart. Still, with Etching Obscurity Frostbite have set the bar for the future very, very high, and barring any major surprises, the album could well end up as the debut of the year by year’s end.
Lineup
Max Allard – guitar
Alekseïev Delbès – drums
Anthonny Colin-Bilodeau – guitar
Stéphane Deschênes – bass
Krystal Koffin – vocals
Production
Frosbite
Tracklist
1. Ascending the Void
2. Sigil Seal
3. The Pest
4. Malleus
5. Through the Grave
6. Delayed Perception
7. Etching Obscurity
8. Shining
9. Soul Devourer
10. Forgotten Path
11. Erased From Existence
