Frozen Ocean & Heather Grave - Beyond Anemonautics (Split EP)

Key Facts

Country: 🇷🇺

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Doom

Release Date: 26th October 2019

Record Label(s): Spectral Halls

Band Members

Frozen Ocean:

Vaarwel - Everything

Heather Grave:

H. - Keyboards, Drum programming

Vaarwel -Vocals, Guitars, Bass

Frozen Ocean & Heather Grave - Beyond Anemonautics (Split EP)

Review

Rating (out of 5🤘): 🤘🤘🤘🤘

Favourite Track(s): Satellites Of The Graveyard Orbit, Foretokens Are Caught In Seclusion

I firstly want to start out by saying that this is my first independent band submission! I'm so happy and humbled that a fellow musician has reached out to me and asked for my opinion on their work, so for any other bands reading this post, I am more than happy to check out your music and possibly review it on Fjordhammer Music. Before I start the review I want to say a massive thank you to Frozen Ocean and Heather Grave for making this happen!

Hailing from the mighty Russia, which I imagine is starting to get spectacularly cold at this time of year, comes a beautifully dissonant and finely crafted split EP from two Russian projects both with multi-instrumentalist Vaarwel at the helm, this is also his twenty-third official release. As everyone who has read this blog before, I'm a big fan of my atmospheric black metal, and I love a bit of slow, droning doom, so when both of them have been put together you're onto a winner with me. There is definitely something distinctly unique about this EP, there are things that I don't usually hear and things that make me ponder and wonder. 

Starting off with the Frozen Ocean half of the EP, musically I'm instantly reminded of a more gritty and distorted Obsequiae. Knowing that there is a few traditional instruments underneath all the heavy guitars and drums and the strong focus on intricate melodies that float over the accompanying instruments has drawn me to this conclusion. This is best demonstrated in Foretokens Are Caught In Seclusion, it very much feels like a I'm in a dream state wandering through some distant start system or under a pleasant enchantment. Even so, there is still a very heavy melancholic, almost despair, theme running through both Frozen Ocean songs, which plays against this dreamy atmosphere and I really like that complexity and attention to detail when laying up such epic compositions. If I compare the Frozen Ocean half of this EP with the Heather Grave half, I get two very contrasting sounds. From the outset of The Hunger Constellation I'm met with this dark and brooding, doom bringing beast. One of my favourite things about The Hunger Constellation is the epic string arrangement, it pierces the soul like an icicle through the heart and makes me me imagine a landscape locked in the grips of a bitter winter. Even with that in mind, there is still a focus on melody despite all the gritty doom elements. Satellites Of The Graveyard Orbit is the best demonstration of this, as it carries the song and before you know it you are entranced, with traditional instruments and a string arrangement that really hammer's home this melody in the forefront of the song. From what I can hear, despite being contrasting genre's both halves of the EP feed off of each other, as all the songs are rich in texture, melody and harmony and every time that I have listened through it I've picked up something different. The synth elements are noticeable in both halves also, but unlike some releases I've heard this year they don't dictated the melody of the songs, that is left to the traditional instruments and in my opinion that is really refreshing to listen to. Overall, this is a really well written EP and it shows the wealth of songwriting experience that Vaarwel has, as everything comes together as a whole package whilst developing and evolving as the compositions go on. 

The real gem of this EP is the production. With its multi-faceted layers and textures that have been blended exquisitely to really bring out every instrument involved. The whole sonic space is filled with something and none of it clashes which is why the music stands out so much and the melodies ring in my head long after I've finished listening to it. The use of reverb and delay is a big part of this I think, especially with the cleaner guitar tones, they make the melody float and bounce in the upper echelons of the songs, whilst the distorted droning of the other guitars are doing all the hard work building the foundation for the melody to sit upon. I like how Vaarwel has applied the same methodology to the traditional stringed instruments, the layers that the reverb and the delays give them really make them stand out in the mix and make them the focal point of that particular section. The more distorted guitar tones sound chunky and full, which is something I always try to apply in my own music and it really gives the songs a bit of power. The only think I'd probably want a bit more of is the low end in the drums, the kick is there but it gets a bit over shadowed from the mid-range and high end frequencies. Overall, it is an expertly mixed EP that has a strong sense of focus and direction of how it needed to sound, really refreshing and enjoyable to listen to. 

So, if you fancy some atmospheric black/doom metal that will conjure up spectacular imagery in your mind then give this EP a listen and make sure you check out more releases from Frozen Ocean as you won't be disappointed!