EP Review: Frosthelm - "The Northwinds Rend Flesh"

Two reviews in one day? Two reviews in one day. Bitches ain't got reviewing swag that I got. Word. Alright. I promise to never do that again. Let's just get on with the review. Frosthelm. The Northwinds Rend Flesh.

Frosthelm is a thrash metal band that tosses in a healthy dose of black metal fury into the mix. Their strain of eviscerating metal comes from the most dark, grim, and dreadful places on Earth: Minot, North Dakota.

More like North Dakvlta. Amirite?

All joking aside, Frosthelm kick out the fucking jams across their 11 minute, 4 song EP. The Northwinds is a feast of razor sharp riffs, bone grinding drums and terrifying vocal gymnastics. The guitar work is a sweet blend of traditional thrash riffage and melodic riffing similar to classic viking themed bands like Ensiferum or older Wintersun. The barrage of memorable riffs never let up, and the solos are pretty facemelting to boot. When layered up like on the intro of opening track, the the guitars and drums build up a massive blizzard-like feeling traditional to modern black metal before everything erupts into a giant avalanche of snow, ice, and +5 Greatswords of Frost. This torrent continues to bury you under it's unrelenting fury for the next 10 minutes and only lets up once the EP is over. Even then, you're stuck wondering what the fuck happened to you, and why you're covered in snow even though you've been indoors all day.

The vocals are just something else as well. The vocal range shown on this album is huge. I mean, it's all growled and shrieked vocals, but still, on The Northwinds we've got gut wrenching, guttural lows and ear piercing highs going on here. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the really, really high shrieks, but they're really fucking impressive nonetheless. They're raspy ans throaty, just like they should be, but still hold a lot of power behind them that not many other vocalists can achieve.

If there's anything I could offer as criticism or as something I'd like to see on the new album, it'd be that I'd like some folky elements. Frosthelm have mastered their style of blackened thrash metal, and I'd love to see them follow in Wintersun's steps and add some wicked huge orchestral arrangements to some of their new tracks. I'd also like to see some longer songs next time around, just to vary things up a little bit.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: It's eleven minutes long. Just listen to all of it, asshole. It's worth it, trust me.

On a Playlist With: Blackguard, Wintersun

Overall Score

4.5

Frosthelm have hit a home run with their The Northwinds Rend Flesh EP. It's a monster of a release and I really want to see what they'll be up to in the future. Frosthelm is for any fans of black metal, melodic death metal, or thrash metal.

You can "like" Frosthelm on Facebook here, and order the EP at their BigCartel page. It's only five bucks right now. Do yourself an favor and just get it, man.

That's all for now, folks! Swag.

-DG