Reviews: Frost*, Scar Of The Sun, Candlemass, Subterranean Masquerade (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Frost* - Day and Age (InsideOut Music)

A band who have always been at the cutting edge musically and heavily political too, Frost* have also been much more prolific in this second incarnation which started with Falling Satellites in 2016. That album saw band founder/keyboardist Jem Godfrey reunite with singer/guitarist John Mitchell joined by Nathan King on bass and Craig Blundell on drums. Now since then they have also brought out an EP before the writing started for this fourth studio album. Craig Blundell left the band in 2019, leaving them as a three piece Godfrey and Mitchell retreated to a cottage in Cornwall and recorded numerous tracks before going to a 'proper' studio in Jan 2020 with Nathan King to write the rest of it. 

Now Frost* have gone from having no drummer to having 3 appear on this record, they are Kaz Rodriguez (Chaka Khan, Josh Groban), Darby Todd (The Darkness, Martin Barre) and Pat Mastelotto (Mister Mister, King Crimson). Godfrey, Mitchell and King tailoring each song to the talents of the drummer. This results in an album that has wide spectrum of sounds but also a conceptual coherence, the lyrical content very much aimed at the collapse of our society due to governments, greed and corruption. Starting and ending with Mitchell screaming "Enjoy Yourselves You Scum!" it's got the same kind of malice that Pink Floyd brought to the The Wall. 

There is also that cinematic style here as well. The propulsive title track layered with plenty of fuzzing synths/keys shifting between several phases but hooked around that glorious repeating chorus, that laments the current state of the planet. There's a depth to this record as they've shifted away from the EDM/Dubstep influenced Falling Satellites. Though the intense Kill The Orchestra does have waves of dubstep as it rages "I'll be singing as they string you up". There is some Gabriel-like quirkiness comes in on Waiting For The Lie where all the members take a turn on vocals, however The Boy Who Stood Still has a 80's flavour to it, almost like an off cut from Grace Under Pressure or an early Porcupine Tree track, due to the spoken word storytelling over the undulating synths, various samples and big electronic drums. 

As per usual Godfrey's keys are the driving force of Frost*'s music, with Mitchell's guitar the co-lead instrument. However you can't overlook King's bass/keys, a worthy third part of this triumvirate feeling as if he's been a part of the band since the very beginning (Milliontown). Closing things out with the industrial Repeat To Fade which almost takes the record full circle with the usage of "Enjoy Yourselves You Scum!" and "there's no way out of here, repeat to fade" giving a sense of hopelessness to an otherwise upbeat sounding song. That is Frost*'s raison d'etre and the reason why I've been following in the band for so long. Day & Age is yet another brilliant addition to the band who have always favoured quality over quantity. 9/10     

Scar Of The Sun - Inertia (Napalm Records)

Sometimes you can't help but be chuffed for a band, having followed Greek modern metal act Scar Of The Sun since their 2011 debut A Series Of Unfortunate Concurrencies through 2016's In Flood, both of those records were released through Scarlet Records I believe but this third full length sees them releasing their debut on Napalm Records. Recorded and mixed by singer Terry Nikas then mastered by Jens Borgen, Inertia is a progressive modern metal tour-de-force, the sort of music you wished In Flames still made. Nikas' vocals are brilliant across the board, he has soaring cleans that are a counterpoint to his aggressive growling. Lyrically the band deal with social injustice, mainly "the financial gain has flourished at the expense of humanity" the three part Quantum Leap Zero suite goes very deep into the the events of 2015 where suppression and revolution were rife in Greece due to financial crisis that hit the country when they defaulted on money owed to the IMF. 

On this record they once again display their very intense sound that is fused with more melodic passages, lots of keening leads cut through bludgeoning blast beats, brought to life by the tough engine room of Panagiotis Gatsopoulos (bass) and Thanos Pappas (drums). Quantum Leap Zero II: Transition To Turbulence is indicative of this style the clean/harsh vocals met with heavy/melodic riffs. It's all sat in the early Gothenburg scene but also that NWOAHM from the early 2000's with Trivium a clear comparison, Oxygen and the opening song Hydrogen both nodding to the American heavyweights. The Fallible Experiment and the title track however have more in common with Scar Symmetry, especially with the waves of synths in the background underpinning the thrashy technical riffage of guitarists Alexi Charalampous and Greg Eleftherio. 

The Fallible Experiment drifts into electronic blips leading into the atmospheric final part of the trilogy Quantum Leap Zero III: Thrust. Though the album itself ends with Anastasis a muscular thump to close this third record, it's a song that deals with devastating loss but ultimately it is about hope. Inertia pulls no punches with it's progressive, modern heavy metal sound. Lyrically attentive and intelligent, musically technical and catchy. A worthy debut on a major label! 8/10 

Candlemass – Green Valley Live (Peaceville Records)

In what is basically a triumph of technology rather than a musical endeavor, Swedish doom legends Candlemass managed to record a live streamed, lockdown show from the titular Green Valley. The show took place in 2020 and now it has become available as a DVD/CD release. So what this is basically is a live recorded album but with no crowd noise, so from the audio part of the record it’s basically a selection of live favourites. There’s nothing wrong with that but obviously there isn’t as much audio shine as there is on the original studio versions meaning that the quality suffers somewhat. 

Johan Längqvist’s vocals are the biggest casualty and while the music is still heavy, it still doesn’t have that soul shaking quality of the band on record or indeed on a full live stage. Still for a 35 year old band to embrace this new technology when a lot of bands younger than them have struggled without put during the pandemic is admirable. The set list is comprised of tracks from the first 4 Candlemass albums with Astrolous a more modern offering. I will say that it’s worth investing in the DVD if you’re a fan of the band as it’s visually a bit more exciting than the audio portion. 6/10

Subterranean Masquerade - Mountain Fever (Sensory)

What started out as a studio based progressive metal project, on the back of their previous album in 2017 they became a touring act, shedding their previous European members for a fully Israeli membership. The main change comes with Davidavi "Vidi" Dolev being the bands only vocalist now taking both the cleans and the harsh as well as everything in between. Subterranean Masquerade have always been a critics choice, winning countless kudos for their Middle Eastern inspired progressive metal, fourth album Mountain Fever extends their musical style with African/Balkan brass, Arabic Violins and lots of lush symphonic arrangements. 

Mångata is very much pitched to the classic prog rock sound and polishes off the record but it's also the simplest song on this often very dense musical record. Now I like Dolev's vocals but I do prefer the previous incumbents, luckily the music is still as good as it's always been heightened by the engineering of David Castillo and the mix of Jens Bogren, you can feel the experimental aspects on the percussive, very Middle Eastern influenced Inwards but there is a much more accessible sound to this album. Unfortunately I can't work out if this is a bonus or to its detriment as personally I do prefer their previous records a little more. 

Still this is the newest iteration of the Subterranean Masquerade story, so Mountain Fever can be considered to be a re-debut of sorts, an album that will bring a wider audience to the band and too the music of a fractured nation. 7/10