Spoiler alert, this is one of the best albums released so far in 2025. If you do not know this young power trio, Freeze the Fall, from Canada, it’s time you did. This is the band’s second EP, but the path from gaming and internet buzz to the Rock perfection achieved here on The Red Garden (604 Records) found Freeze the Fall coming into their own as songwriters along the way. They went from being known as the kids who covered The Warning to being a superior band to their early inspiration in a short time. Most of this growth came thanks to the depth Quinn Mitzel sings with, in order to nail uncanny hooks in every anthemic chorus she utters.
Freeze The Fall Band Photo by Gerry Diaz @realgerrydiaz
This is combined with creating an atmosphere that is darker enough to capture the ear of audiences who might be into darker heavy music, despite darkness and heaviness just being fleeting sonic colors used to give undertones to the radio-ready songs that owe a great deal to the rock of the early 2000s. They have a formula they build these songs from, but manage to never let that create an overbearing sense of uniformity.
They break things up and get heavier by giving a nod to their collective love of horror movies on “VHS”. There is a late-nineties Nu-Metal vibe, without any of the Adidas attitude.
The vocal harmonies are also really unique and help to distance them from their peers and influences alike. The slick production of this album, not hype this fact with overproduction, but brings this out in a spacious, crystal clear manner. “Aurora” has a more rock bounce in its step, with radio-friendly nineties Metal in its veins, that might bring Kittie to mind. Quinn picks melodies that further distance themselves from nu-metal and provide a dynamic contrast to the guitar riffs.
“Obliette” finds a more dynamic middle of the road, with an unexpected guitar solo, highlighting the chops these kids have. There is a pretty crushing riff for the last few measures. The last song is a ballad that finds a piano line flowing through it. This album will grow on you with each listen. If you are into powerful female vocals layered over melodic hard-edged rock, then this is not worth your time, but Spirtibox is the only band that gives them any competition, which says a lot since that band is at their peak and crushing stadiums where these kids are just getting started. Everything here has been captured in the studio just as it creatively falls in place at the right time, to create an album that is pretty much perfect, and just needs to stand the test of time, but aside from all the hype the current nu-metal revival is getting, there is an ethereal wistfulness in the sould of this album that creates it’s own pocket universe for what they are doing here to capture this lightning in a bottle moment.
Buy the album here:
https://freezethefallband.com/
9 / 10
WIL CIFER
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