PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Finland do it yet again by unleashing Frozen Land upon the world with their self titled full length debut album released via Massacre Records
Sometimes an album drops in your lap that has you bouncing around the room like a teenager once again, which after tripping over the cat and knocking a couple of vases off the shelf, I came to realise probably wasn’t the best of ideas but there you go
Frozen Land certainly is an album that pays a hefty homage to the 90’s Power Metal scene, soaked as it is with incredibly catchy melodic riffs and hooks. Opener ’Losers Game’ is one of the strongest tracks on the album, a thunderous juggernaut that commands your total attention, it’s soaring chorus pretty damn impressive. ’Delusions Of Grandeur’, whilst just as catchy, is delivered at a slightly less frenetic pace with a harder edge to it, and ‘The Fall’ is just a pure bounce along, get up and dance kind of affair. All the tracks are extremely polished and led well by Tony Meloni’s vocal. The Dioesque ‘Underworld (Manala)’ whilst allowing you to draw breath is no less powerful, just as well as it precedes ‘The Rising’ which is just manic and a pure Symphonic delight. No respite as ‘Unsung Heroes’ has you marching along on a Metal crusade before the wonderfully titled ‘Orgy Of Enlightenment’ drops the pace slightly, reminding me of Maiden in places. ‘Mask Of The Youth’ is possibly my personal favourite at this moment in time, with its pummelling riff and soaring vocal taking my breath away. The final two tracks are a bit of a head scratch to be honest, the ballad ‘I Would’, whilst quite punchy in places, doesn’t quite hit the heights of the previous tracks, although having said that, I’m sure it would come across great live, a real lighters in the air affair. The album finishes with ’Angels Crying’, a cover of a track by a dance band called E-Type who I’m not familiar with but I’m sure Frozen Lands version is much better
Essentially Frozen Land is the vision and product of guitarist Tuomas Hirvonen, and if truth be told, he may have created a bit of a monster here (Tuomas also handles the production side as well) Whilst the album may hark back to times past, it more than stands up to anything out in the Metal domain at the moment. At the end of the day, music should be able to provoke a reaction and define a mood or feeling, and this album certainly does that
Track Listing ;
1. Loser’s Game
2. Delusions Of Grandeur
3. The Fall
4. Underworld (Manala)
5. The Rising
6. Unsung Heroes
7. Orgy Of Enlightenment
8. Mask Of The Youth
9. I Would
10. Angels Crying (E-Type Cover)
Line Up ;
Tony Meloni – Vocals
Tuomas Hirvonen – Guitars
Aki Kuokkanen – Drums
Lauri Muttilainen – Keyboards
Juhana Heinonen – Bass
The album is released via Massacre Records on November the 23rd
https://www.facebook.com/Frozenlandband/
http://www.massacre-records.com
