Hail of Bullets - ...Of Frost and War
Metal Blade Records – 19 May 2008
By Brandon Peters
Hail of Bullets is a new death metal band from Holland, and the band has members from
Thanatos and
Asphyx.
Of Frost and War is all about the German-Soviet from 1941 to 1945 and the Soviet offensive after Stalingrad, and it’s trying to have a mechanical/war atmosphere to it.
The album starts off with a nice instrumental that sets the war-like atmosphere, and it’s tastefully done; the album continues with varying types of death metal riffs, but it all comes back to a mechanical sound. The riffs have some nice tremolo parts, and they usually flow nicely into an old school doom/death style riffing. The album is a bit of a grower, but has a nice atmosphere that can obviously hook people.
'Nachthexen' and
'Berlin' are the highlights of the album, because they hold the atmosphere together, and the riffs and songwriting flow perfectly. Most songs on
...Of Frost and Fire hold a nice atmosphere, but just don’t pack the punch. The only beef I really have is with the album is the riffs is in the song Stalingrad, because it has annoying riffs and doesn't come together at all. The vocals are superbly done though; it seems like anything Martin gets his hands, he will do his best to make it great. His vocals are still strained and deep, just like in
Asphyx, and they fit perfectly.
All in all this album is solid, but I don’t find anything that I can latch onto. The production on the album is standard for a modern death metal band; the riffs could be a bit more in the mix, and the vocals down a bit though. The album is just lacking a bit of punch to put it just over the edge. Some better riffing would do that trick in a few song, but definitely something to listen to, and perhaps they grow for their next album.
Official Hail of Bullets Website
Official Hail of Bullets Myspace
Official Metal Blade Website
