TRAWLER are from Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast in the Russia Federation kinda to the right of Finland on the atlas and way the hell up North as in Northern Lights and moss eatin' reindeer North. "Beyond the North, Ice, and Death" follows the 2017 release "The Strong Man & the Sea" with some solid melodic metal squarely in the MEGADETH and PANTERA school of metal.

In the 39 minutes you wake-n-bake with the 9 songs of "Beyond the North, Ice, and Death" you may notice some strong similarities to 90's amurikan melodic metal, which is cool if that's your thing. For me the disc takes me into interesting territory when we get to track #3 "Prisoner" where Anatoly has some filmy tenor lines along with his formidable metal growl. I am guessing that the loping track #5 Морфин (Morphine) with recherché clucking and buzz saw barbed guitar is in the Russian language - cool for me as an added song dimension you don't hear everyday, at least in my 'hood. Anatoly's english is spot on the King's english ... better than mine and I had 13 years of the pain in "school".  "Weather the Storm" and "Go to the Top" both boomerang right back at you with a decided chorus and the chunka chinka chonka geetar that gets me old head a-bobbin. In Flames closes out the disc with a nice heartbeat rate tune which showcases TRAWLER's strengths ... this is my #2 fav on Beyond the North, Ice, and Death. Nice lead guitar tones as well.

While I understand the gated track production - at times ala PRONG especially for the drums ... I got a little lost in the mono-timbre drum production. The snare sounds tuned to the same pitch as the kick drum and believe me mates, I got the best low-fi stereo that a kid could want, subwoofer and all so I think I heard everything there is to hear on this these tracks. But its all good and worth a listen for the songs and playing and more important.. the METAL. Good musical technicians these Russian lads show themselves to be and the playing and songs are solid while hitting all four corners of the 90's metal style daily minimum requirements - catchy, coarse, lyrical and multicadent.