Patrick: The Norwegian band Frail Grounds does not settle for less than an impression that emanates professionalism. So time, attention and effort have been put in the artwork of their demo. And the result is one that can match a professional release. The first class impression would have been for nothing if the tracks as ‘Corrosion’ could not have matched with the appearance. But when it comes to that, things have been taken care of as well.
The quintet is engaging themselves in a gamut of metal; although heavy metal mainly determines the sound, Frail Ground does not leave it there. At certain points elements of extreme or progressive metal are added. The result might be seen as a mix of Nevermore, Dream Theater (keyboards!), Iron Maiden (notice the riffs) and Evergrey, without ever really copying one of these bands. The length of almost thirty five minutes of five tracks might already show that these Norwegians do not go for short, easy listening songs. The five tracks are richly distinguished and characterized by a lot of attention on variation and melody. At some moments the keyboard gets the upper hand (sometimes a little too much), but as easily a heavier impression is being displayed. Clean vocals are varied by deep grunts. The positive impression of this demo is being subdued a little by the clean vocals; although not bad, vocalist Morten is not capable of displaying good variegation.
Frail Grounds shows to be a band with ideas. Although I have seen stranger things happen, it would surprise me if we are not going to hear more interesting things from this quintet in the future.
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