Frozen Halls, the newest album from Bemen Germany death metal outfit, Soul Grinder rips the music scene to shreds, plunging the listener into an abyss of darkness that seems inescapable. More of an assault to the senses than anything else, this band has crawled from the depths of hell, pummeling listeners with screaming guitars, fast, staccato blast beats, and vocals which are from the pits themselves. The opening track of this record, Cursed Covenant, throws you into the abyss almost immediately. What starts out as a slow building song reminiscent of the best of black metal, the tempo shifts at the one minute mark and becomes a force to be reckoned with. The wall of sound buries the listener in crazy technical riffs and the scratchy, almost strangled voice of the vocalist which does, admittedly become muddled below the layers of excellent instrumentation. Into the Nightmare, the forth song of the album starts a lot faster; with quick drums opening this track. The tempo here never really slows down as the drums and the guitars quicken, matching pace with how quick the vocalist, Mathias, is singing. This track plays very much so dream-like; like the music form of a nightmare, as the name entails. On the back end of this song, guitars squealing in pinch harmonic glory during the guitar solo.

A stand out on the album is Amorphous Blight with it's riffs and stark bass tones taking the listener on a journey of darkness. This whole song showcases technical prowess from everyone in the band; the drums are amazing here, and vocals are even better. The song slows down a little bit more. It's more of a black metal song mixed with thrash with the slow build as well as the guitar solo near the end. Energy encapsulates this band and makes them better than a lot of death metal bands in my opinion.

The ninth track on the album, Ominous Retribution begins with harsh, anguished screams from the vocals before the slow tempo of the instrumentation speeds up tremendously. I could picture heads banging and bodies thrashing back and forth during this song especially. The down tuned bass tones are very noticeable here, the constant pressure of the bass drum in the background present as well. Blast beats shred through the harsh vocals and loud, pummeling guitars. It pierces the listeners ear in the best way possible. The track even ends in a breakdown which is something I wasn't necessarily expecting from a death metal band, but it works leading into possibly the best guitar solo on the record.

Finally, the second track on the album, Frozen Halls, reminds me of a more fantasy metal song. The operatic voice in the background adds a bit of depth to the song before it once again pummels like, like an army marching to battle. The song is filled with cold desolation, taking the listening on a journey and never letting go its grasp. It's different than the other songs on the record, but it's quite possibly my favorite song because of the influences the band decided to use. The chugging guitars right before and during the breakdown are the perfect lead in.

Overall, I enjoyed this album. It was an extremely well executed death metal album with technically insane vocals, some very good, chaotic drumming, and excellent guitar work. This is just straight up heaviness; a wall of sound that assault every single one of your senses.