Frozen Tears
Mysterious Time

February 2001
Released: 2000, Megahard Records
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Waspman

Hey, look at this! An Italian power metal band? Who would have thought? Joking aside, Frozen Tears is another entrant into the extremely crowded genre of Italian power metal. To their credit they are neither Rhapsody nor Labyrinth rip-offs. Instead, the band is closer to the Hammerfall side of the genre, especially in their guitar sound, which is nice and crunchy. Lead by the brothers Taiti (Leonardo – rhythm guitar, and Alessio – vocals), Frozen Tears also manage to steer clear of the swords & sorcery themes that run through (infect?) the lyrics of most of their countrymen. Instead, Alessio’s lyrics deal with an interesting cross between self-reflection and science fiction (“Inner Man”).



Being firmly entrenched in the power metal genre, the music is appropriately heavy, almost more American styled a la Iced Earth than their European brethren. All of the songs whip by at a fairly quick pace with fast riffing and plenty of double kicks in the drums. Keyboards are layered over top of the music, but they rarely take a leading role, and are used more to accent the guitars. Unfortunately, like many power metal bands, the bass is barely audible. For a bass lover like myself, this is definitely not a good thing! Hmmm....seems like there’s something that I missed. Guitars, keyboards, drums...oh yeah, vocals! Well, to be blunt, they need work. That’s not to say that Alessio’s singing is awful, ‘cause it’s not. He’s actually pretty good when he stays within his regular range, as his voice as a cool growl-like throaty rasp. It just...takes some getting used to, especially when he attempts to stretch himself into a falsetto. This is when his voice can become grating. My suggestion would be to scrap the really high vocals and stick to the range that is natural, ‘cause that could kick ass!



So basically what we have here is another entrant into the already full power metal genre. Still, Frozen Tears has some really good songs (“The Edge”, “The Day of Nothing”) and, while not exactly original, is far from being a copycat band. MYSTERIOUS TIME is an enjoyable CD that makes a good compliment to the other power metal CD’s in your collection.

Contact: megahard@progressive.com.br

Web: http://www.progressive.com.br