A crisp cold night in Camden certainly feels a more apt setting for FROZEN SOUL than the last time the band were in the capital. The Texan death metallers are on day four of a three-week European tour in support of their fantastic sophomore full-length Glacial Domination, with tonight’s show at the legendary Underworld kicking off a quick jaunt up and down the country with some killer support in tow.
First up is some local talent in the form of London’s OVERTHROW, who devote the first two-thirds of their set to ripping through last year’s Ascension Of The Entombed EP in full and in order. They’re a tight, technically proficient unit with a sound that could reasonably appeal to any of the three great tribes of extreme metal – black, death and thrash, obviously – and while the occasional lead guitar intricacy may struggle to compete with the pummel of Scott Lindsay’s double kicks or the rumble of Luke Fabian’s bass, the band’s riffing power is undiminished. There is one cut from their 2021 Strike Down The Saviour LP too, although it’s the closing cover of CANNIBAL CORPSE’s Hammer Smashed Face that somewhat predictably goes down best with the already decently sized crowd.
Rating: 7/10
Finnish crossover thrashers FORESEEN take the momentum and run with it. They’re as much a hardcore band as they are a metal band and this is reflected in considerably more motion on stage as vocalist Mirko Nummelin paces back and forth all deranged and barky and menacing. Most of the set is drawn from the band’s outstanding 2022 full-length Untamed Force, the five-piece whistling through cuts like Soldier’s Grave and Birthright and Tolerance Of Abuse in a flurry of blistering solos and harmonised guitar leads and loads of shouty gang vocals. They close with their incendiary 2016 single Power Intoxication and with that the bar is raised considerably for the rest of the evening.
Rating: 9/10
Of course, there are actually two Texan death metal bands who released massive albums last year on the bill tonight and the first of these is the prolific CREEPING DEATH. The new(ish) album in question – Boundless Domain – features predictably heavily from the outset, the title track rolling into Intestinal Wrap and on into Creators Turned Into Prey with scarcely a pause for breath between them. Vocalist Reese Alavi’s bellow is every bit as resounding and rapturous as it is on record and he proves an immensely commanding and charismatic presence amid the band’s sweltering grooves and breakneck thrashing. They keep the momentum nice and high too, bunching their efforts into three-track chunks that include a smattering of older cuts like Bloodlust Contamination and Specter Of War before rounding things out with the thunderous gallop and semi-hooks of Boundless Domain closer The Common Breed.
Rating: 9/10
Taking to the stage to ACCEPT’s Balls To The Wall and the now fully expected blue lights, FROZEN SOUL follow their mates’ lead and begin with a hefty run of cuts from their latest album – this is the European Glacial Domination tour after all, as last year’s dates were more of a warm-up for their appearance at Bloodstock. Vocalist Chad Green douses the crowd in fake snow as the band launch into the opening blast beats of Invisible Tormentor, this followed as it is on the album by the vicious pair of Arsenal Of War, which features a return to the stage from Alavi, and Death And Glory, which Green sends out to anyone who’s ever been a victim of bullying.
A step up though it may have been, Glacial Domination isn’t the only killer record FROZEN SOUL have made in their time and they prove this as tracks like Merciless and Beat To Dust from their 2021 debut Crypt Of Ice are met with masses of stage divers and even some pit push-ups in the latter – as per Green’s explicitly request before anyone panics about the spread of main character syndrome. “That’s called having fun,” smiles the frontman, “that’s what this shit is all about.”
He’s right of course; some bands may take themselves way too seriously and even in FROZEN SOUL’s case the musicianship and brutality is no joke, but death metal is meant to be a good time and in the case of tonight’s headliners it really is. Green stirs up the biggest circle pit of the evening as the band close their main set with the title track from Crypt Of Ice, only to be swiftly beckoned back for an encore of Witches Coven by MORTICIAN to complete a glorious celebration of all things death metal.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Nick Allan here:
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