ALBUM REVIEW: The Harlot Star – Frost Giant

Following the release of The First Veil of Snow last year, FROST GIANT have been back in the studio and are set for their release of their third full-length album, The Harlot Star. The American folk metal group have taken a lot of their inspiration from Norse mythology, and since their formation in 2005 have established their own unique sound in one of the more original genre of modern metal.

The Harlot Star begins with the title track, an instrumental lasting just over three minutes, which slowly sets the scene, with a calming acoustic element while in the background the icy winds can be heard howling from the mountains. While a lot of bands in this style have an instrumental opening track, it doesn’t normally last as long as The Harlot Star, and much of it could be cut down with the main build up coming in the last 30 seconds before flowing straight into Forgive Me Not.

The second track, Forgive Me Not, right away highlights the band’s take on the folk metal sound – there’s the blastbeats which help add to the pace of the track, and give the metal element, and there are orchestral backing vocals which bring in the folk element of things. The vocals throughout the verse are very harsh, with Matt Frost bringing another element into the sound through his death metal style. Straight away you get the sense of what to expect for the rest of the album.

One element of folk metal is that FROST GIANT have also implemented into the new album is the variation in song length – with a couple of tracks lasting just over two minutes or less, whilst also including a track of epic proportions, 11 minutes 16 seconds to be precise. The band also appear to be big fans of instrumentals; their third track Apostasis being one, which doesn’t really add anything to the album as it doesn’t build up to the following track Curse of Doubt, and begs the question as to why it had been included.

Looking at the longest track on the record now, The Forgotten Graves, the intro begins with a solo from guitarist Scott Breustedt, which bizarrely echoes the sound of RISE AGAINST. This track contains pretty much every element of metal that you can think of, which again seems rather unnecessary. Yes, it shows that the band can branch out into other areas and cross genres, but that’s not always a good thing and can bring the overall sound quality down, which is the case here.

Overall, The Harlot Star is an album which has great potential, but is underwhelming for a band which have so much hype about them. There are a lot of things that can be taken out, which of course would make the record considerably shorter, but would also give a better listening experience. It’s definitely an acquired taste; you really have to be into folk metal to like it and understand what the record is about, and really only enthusiasts of the style would see this in a store and pick it up.

Rating: 5/10

The Harlot Star is set for release on January 19th via Transcending Records.

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