From the dark shadows of Moscow, Russia, comes a one man band by the name of Frozen Ocean. The solo musician behind the music goes by the name Vaarwel. He has recently released his brand new album, entitled "A Perfect Solitude." Its atmospheric sounds will send a cold chill down your spine. The album contains seven tracks total and as you roll through it you will see that it's a wild roller coaster ride and has many ups and downs.
Eerie synths and sound effects open the album in the minute and a half introduction, entitled "Broken Window." The haunting tones continue going into "Somewhere Clouds Debark." This slowly builds into catchy progressive riffs that contain gorgeous guitars layered on top of each other. Meanwhile thumping kick drums rumble heavily underneath while snares and cymbals are rapidly chopped up in the background. The verse finally kicks in with ominous clean singing vocals that are delivered in a very deep tone of voice. Later you'll become surrounded by ravishing keyboards as complex drum rolls come in with a groovy bass line in top of it. The detail of these instruments will definitely have you hooked.
Unfortunately, the album takes a disappointing dive with "A Sunflower On The Prison Backyard." If you look at the actually track listing and all of their times you'll notice that it runs for over 13 minutes long. It's gotta be an epic track right? Wrong, After listening to about a minute you will see that this is all the track is. It doesn't change at all. They throw some eerie sound effects over a dark synth for the 13 minutes straight. Interludes are one thing but to waste 13 minutes of your time with sounds that lead nowhere is a big let down. The only good that this track is for is maybe to be used in the opening score of a horror film. That's about it.
"Mare Imbrium" opens with similar effects as the last track which is probably gonna make you wanna skip it all together. But don't! Let this one play out. It's well worth it. After about two minutes into the track comes blaring distorted guitars and punchy kicks. This soon followed by full drum fills and haunting keyboards with gloomy and yet beautiful tones. It definitely paints a beauty and the beast type of picture. The seven and a half instrumental is relentless when it comes to addictive melodies. Between the angelic synths and keys and phenomenal guitar riffs, this track will leave you wanting to hit the repeat button again and again. And I suggest you do just that because the following track, "Camomiles," is nothing but more Halloween sound effects and synths for another three minutes and 42 seconds straight.
After re listening to "Mare Imbrium" multiple times (because it's that damn good) you'll run into "Unavailing Steps On Perpetual." This track is filled with monstrous guitar chugging and relentless double bass pedal drumming. You'll find yourself pumping your fist in the air in no time. The verses contain more haunting clean singing vocals. They also incorporate some brief black metal screaming towards the middle of the track. This is followed by catchy guitar melodies and magnificent drum fills. The double bass pedals will have you're blood pumping the entire time. You're also hit with some gorgeous keyboards towards the end of the track that carry some great tunes. The final track, entitled "Cleavage And Emission," is really just one long outro. It's filled with sound effects such as police sirens, children playing, and blends of other random eerie sounds.
With the album ending with such a boring track, "A Perfect Solitude" doesn't really leave any sort of impact on you what so ever. Out of the seven tracks on the album, only three of them are actually tracks. Frozen Ocean could have easily cut the tracks with nothing but sound effects down to a minimum and turned this album into a short demo or EP instead. By adding these long non interesting tracks it really becomes a drag and turns you away from the album as a whole. The good news is that the three tracks that I really got into describing earlier really make this album worth the listen. I would definitely take the time to at least check them out and keep an eye on where this band is headed.
7/10
Official Site - http://frozen-ocean.net/
You have understood nothing.
ReplyDeleteVaarwel, FO.