Frozen Wreath – Mea Culpa - Reviewed By zwaremetalen ! Check it out here at this link https://zwaremetalen.com/albumrecensies/frozen-wreath-mea-culpa
Who's fault is it anyway? Is it your fault or just mine? Should I say mea culpa as usual or should you say it for a change? The two gentlemen of Frozen Wreath from Hungary meekly shout it in pairs. Mea Culpa is the successor to the 2021 debut album Memento Mori, also released by Filosofem Records, also a Hungarian label. The two gentlemen Neubauer and Szele are part of bands on this label. You can find Neubauer in the line-up of Vrag and Witcher and Szele plays in De Profundis . The gentlemen seem to have found each other in making atmospheric black metal. The theme is that of suicide and the musical accompaniment is one of old Dimmu Borgir, Catamenia and And Oceans .
The opening bars of the first song, Az Én Vétkem , could indeed have been on a Catamenia record. However, Mr. Neubauer's vocals are rustier and the drums unfortunately sound as if they come from a box, read: a drum machine. However, I could be wrong. It is special to hear how the gentlemen support the main theme, which sounds quite melodramatic, with a drum part that feels quite contradictory, especially in the slow rhythms. It raises my eyebrows a bit. The gentlemen then go wild with a narrative theme that splits open the dark clouds before the main theme returns.
The evil sounding Megrepedt Vályogfalak , which should mean no more or less than cracked walls loosely translated, also has that melodrama in it, something that really characterizes the band. It seems as if the guitar parts are supported by strings and trumpet calls from a keyboard. Trumpet calls going hand in hand with black metal are of course no strangers to our beloved genre. Just think of the friends of Sear Bliss for example, also Hungarians if I'm not mistaken. Coincidentally, the lords of Frozen Wreath also come from the same region of Vas as the grandmasters of Sear Bliss . However, nowhere on this record does Frozen Wreath reach the same level as their fellow countrymen and regions. Only in the songs Vénülő Kezek or Búcsúlevél is the monotony of the drumming and riffing somewhat broken.
Mea Culpa is a more than decent atmospheric black metal record, but I don't really like the drum sound and rhythms that are chosen. At times it all sounds a bit too contradictory and too angular. The melodrama in the compositions is something I can handle well. Maybe it's best to make your own judgment about this new Frozen Wreath record . What is true, the logo is one to die for. zwaremetalen
Release Date: 13. September, 2023.
FFO: Dimmu Borgir, And Oceans, Catamenia
Location: Hungary
All hope is gone: the second album of the atmospheric black metal band FROZEN WREATH is out now, entitled ‘Mea Culpa’! The Hungarian atmospheric black metal duo FROZEN WREATH released their second album ‘Mea Culpa’, after previously introducing the record with a truly dark and depressing music video. The concept album includes 7 songs in nearly 50 minutes. All the lyrics are about suicide, but from different kind of aspects; meanwhile musicwise the band still plays in the style of the second half of the 90’s black metal, in the same vein as old Dimmu Borgir, And Oceans or Catamenia. Filosofem Records released the album on CD, but it will be soon available on all streaming platforms!
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