Loudblast - Frozen Moments Between Life And Death
Arguably THE band to pioneer death and thrash metal in France, Loudblast may have made some of the best albums in the genre but they haven't exactly had the easiest of journeys. After releasing some classic albums (1993's "Sublime Dementia" in particular) between 1989 and 1998, a plethora of issues forced the band to split in 1999... only to reform again in 2003 and release the slightly disappointing "Planet Pandemonium" the following year. And a maddening seven years on, they've finally released it's long-awaited followup "Frozen Moments Between Life And Death" in 2011.
Upon listening, it's very easy to forgive Loudblast for taking seven years to release "Frozen Moments..." (abbreviation necessary for such a title) as it's apparent that they've really, really tried to improve upon it's predecessor. "Planet Pandemonium" wasn't a piss-poor effort by any means, but it just didn't feel like Loudblast for some reason - here, anything that made that record feel weak has been thrown straight out of the window. The band are on prime form, with tracks such as 'Neverending Blast" and "The Bitter Seed" in particular giving a salute to their earlier and best works, yet still retaining the sense of freshness - this is no nostalgia act, but at the same time, the band know their style and thusly know what works. And they're not going to change it. However, they've certainly progressed in these past seven years in terms of their execution as vocalist/guitarist St ephane Buriez proves quite well with both his voice and his playing - he may not be quite as gutteral as he was in '91, but the aging process is a real son of a bitch. The band also has some fresh blood with new guitarist Drakhian and new(ish) bass player Alex Lenormand, who have seemingly brought their own works and ideas to the table - Alex seems to do relatively little that's overly outstanding, but Drakhian has plenty of opportunity to break out some excellent Loudblast lead harmonies with Stephane on... well, a lot of the songs actually. Loudblast's sense of melody was always one of their strong points, and they don't let down here at all. One of the absolute highlights of the entire album is actually the closing track, 'To Bury An Empire' - a stellar instumental piece that, although not technically mindblowing, is a really epic and climatic finale to the record. And once again, here we have another album that's been given a very careful and tasteful production job with little to no fancy-pants effects (bar the occasional vocal) and none of the wall-of-noise stuff that you get with a lot of modern death metal. i must say that in every review... I guess I just know how to pick them haha.
The album isn't entirely without flaws, but in this case it's just the one: song lengths. There's only one track below three and a half minutes, and it can become quite tedious or confusing near the halfway mark as some songs are grasping at over five and a half minutes... this could really test a casual listener's patience. but then again, die hard fans and those who care little for such things will find this negligible.
So the big question is, was the seven year wait worth it? You know what, I'm going to say yes. Maybe I'm slightly bias as I'm a longtime fan, but this album really came as quite a surprise - it's not often that older death/thrash metal bands can muster up a great album in this day and age that sounds modern, but still 'old school' in the right way. many try and fail, but Loudblast have managed it rather nicely with "Frozen Moments Between Life And Death". And it only took seven years, here's hoping they can better it with the next release in another seven.
Upon listening, it's very easy to forgive Loudblast for taking seven years to release "Frozen Moments..." (abbreviation necessary for such a title) as it's apparent that they've really, really tried to improve upon it's predecessor. "Planet Pandemonium" wasn't a piss-poor effort by any means, but it just didn't feel like Loudblast for some reason - here, anything that made that record feel weak has been thrown straight out of the window. The band are on prime form, with tracks such as 'Neverending Blast" and "The Bitter Seed" in particular giving a salute to their earlier and best works, yet still retaining the sense of freshness - this is no nostalgia act, but at the same time, the band know their style and thusly know what works. And they're not going to change it. However, they've certainly progressed in these past seven years in terms of their execution as vocalist/guitarist St ephane Buriez proves quite well with both his voice and his playing - he may not be quite as gutteral as he was in '91, but the aging process is a real son of a bitch. The band also has some fresh blood with new guitarist Drakhian and new(ish) bass player Alex Lenormand, who have seemingly brought their own works and ideas to the table - Alex seems to do relatively little that's overly outstanding, but Drakhian has plenty of opportunity to break out some excellent Loudblast lead harmonies with Stephane on... well, a lot of the songs actually. Loudblast's sense of melody was always one of their strong points, and they don't let down here at all. One of the absolute highlights of the entire album is actually the closing track, 'To Bury An Empire' - a stellar instumental piece that, although not technically mindblowing, is a really epic and climatic finale to the record. And once again, here we have another album that's been given a very careful and tasteful production job with little to no fancy-pants effects (bar the occasional vocal) and none of the wall-of-noise stuff that you get with a lot of modern death metal. i must say that in every review... I guess I just know how to pick them haha.
The album isn't entirely without flaws, but in this case it's just the one: song lengths. There's only one track below three and a half minutes, and it can become quite tedious or confusing near the halfway mark as some songs are grasping at over five and a half minutes... this could really test a casual listener's patience. but then again, die hard fans and those who care little for such things will find this negligible.
So the big question is, was the seven year wait worth it? You know what, I'm going to say yes. Maybe I'm slightly bias as I'm a longtime fan, but this album really came as quite a surprise - it's not often that older death/thrash metal bands can muster up a great album in this day and age that sounds modern, but still 'old school' in the right way. many try and fail, but Loudblast have managed it rather nicely with "Frozen Moments Between Life And Death". And it only took seven years, here's hoping they can better it with the next release in another seven.
1. Frozen Moments Between Life And Death
2. Neverending Blast
3. Emptiness Crushes My Soul
4. Cold Blooded Kind
5. Towards Oneness
6. Nosce Te Ipsum
7. The Bitter Seed
8. Hazardous Magic
9. To Bury An Empire
2. Neverending Blast
3. Emptiness Crushes My Soul
4. Cold Blooded Kind
5. Towards Oneness
6. Nosce Te Ipsum
7. The Bitter Seed
8. Hazardous Magic
9. To Bury An Empire
Label: http://www.13bis.com
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Nov 22, 2011
Nov 22, 2011
Next review:
Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination
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