We’re in the home stretch everybody. Not much longer before 2023 transitions into 2024, and the wheel of time keeps going forwards into the future. Even on the Heavy Metal Otaku blog, the gears keeps spinning, and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. As per tradition in recent years, it’s time to take a look at the music of the year before, and see if it still holds up. The first of these two reviews is from a band that is no stranger to this blog. For practically 4 years at this point, the otaku tinged Power Metal band Everfrost have peddled their own unique twist on the genre across their native Finland & various conventions they manage to travel to, and they show no signs of stopping. So, without further delay, here’s my review on their LP Frostbites. Enjoy!
Background
With the release of Winterider back in September of 2019, Everfrost seemingly got a boost in popularity in Finland & it’s convention circuit. Finalizing plans to being touring in those places & beyond, it should come as no surprise that 2020 would come along to screw things up just a few months later, but that wasn’t the only hit to the group. Lead singer Mikael Salo would leave the band to pursue his own musical career, as did Allan C Hasanen & Markus Laito. This resulted in Benji Connelly & Jope "James" Salminen being the only original members left, but that didn’t stop them! After acquiring new guitarists Samuli Heiskanen and Joose Ylianttila, as well as new lead singer Eveliina Tuulia a little later down the road, Everfrost 2.0 was fully formed. Upon entering the studio, the band decided that perhaps anime intro covers were the next thing to work on, and after acquiring a few musical guests (Including Mikael Salo), they put their noses to the grindstone, and on the 11th of November, 2022, the LP known as Frostbites was released!
Basic Description
Bite sized otaku goodness.
Though the smaller size is something of an issue (More on that in a bit), once again Everfrost proved that they aren’t just a gimmick! Yes, they where what inspires them on their sleeve & they have no shame at all, but it’s also obvious that these beautiful Finnish weebs are exceptionally talented as well. Blue Eyed Emotion was great but a bit on the amateur-ish side, while Winterider was a giant boost in quality. Frostbites essentially is everything good about the previously mentioned release, but with all of those finer points smoothed out more for a greater shine. It’s a testament that these guys are able to crank out exceptional release after exceptional release, despite being rather obscure here in the United States.
Best Track
Gotta Catch Em All hits hard! The band treated the iconic opener for Pokemon with a great deal of respect, but still put their own little spin on things. The pacing is basically the same as the original, but it’s the Power Metal coat of paint that really fleshes things out. The guitar & bass especially put in a lot of work, and it was great to hear Mikael Salo sing with Everfrost one final time (Twice if you count the Evangelion cover) before he pursued his own musical aspirations. For anyone from my generation that needs a big blast of nostalgia to the eardrums, then this opening song is for you!
Gotta Catch Em All
Worst Track
Like I said in my top 5 list from last year, Frostbites’s only faults lie with the amount of songs, and I never watched the shows that 3 of the tunes are from. Again, I can brush off that second fault without any issue, but I am still surprised at the fact that there are only 4 songs on here! It is entirely possible that I misread something, but I could have sworn that I saw something about this release being a full-fledged album. If anyone from the band sees this, please clarifying things for me.
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this, then click on the link below:
Frostbites
Overall Impression & Rating
Frostbites is a fun little romp. Sure, it goes by quick, and most of the shows it references I’m not massively familiar with, but I easily recognize the effort put into it. Everfrost will always be a fun & quirky group, and it’s releases like this that keep me endeared to them. If you got a little bit of time to kill, then this brief flash of winter weebery is perfect for that!
Frostbites gets a out 9 of 10.
So that was my look at Frostbites. It might go by pretty fast, but the devotion that Everfrost has to what inspires them makes up for this, and it’s a lot of fun! So, my other no. 1 album of 2022 will be covered a little later, but beforehand I got something else to post. See you soon!
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