“Finding new ways to die every day.”
If you’re a fan of metallic hardcore with Pantera vocals, or have an affinity for a more humble version of Malevolence, you’ve come to the right place. Negative Frame, on the heels of a promising EP trifecta dating back to 2018 in Pestilent, Small World, and Mercy Killing, have released a predominantly misdirected debut album. It’s high time someone delivers a long-winded sermon on the dangers of integrating tones of Five Finger Death Punch, Skillet, and Godsmack atop what would otherwise be a strong showing of riff work and breakdowns before geriatrics begin flooding mosh pits with wheelchair bumper cars. Break The Ice, at every turn, hinders its potential with nearsighted missteps.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Break The Ice is its aptitude to kill every bit of feasible momentum on a whim. Encouraging buildups, far too often across the near-entirety of this record, pitfall into a bottomless void because of Sully Ema worship, roughneck rock hooks, and ill-conceived stadium solos. Like clockwork, “Cold Nights“, “Cut Throat“, and “Rat Trap” display sporadic yet quality chugs and blast beats that are overshadowed by forced genre-blending. Hardly anyone will fault what’s likely experimentation, but there comes a point where insanity is suffocatingly palpable as a result. Time and time again, the melding of core and amphitheater rock has proven to be less compatible than milk and Jaeger.
Whether you’re a rugged religionist on a Christian Mingle binge or a scene kid that thinks everything outside of Static Dress and fromjoy is mid will determine your outlook on the following: Negative Frame provide their own flavor of Creed tribute on Break The Ice. “Heavens Blue” is half acoustic, half mid-tempo sad dad ballad string work. Inherent respect has to be given to Negative Frame for favoring a radio-adjacent sound to this degree, combined with the decency to give the old heads who will undoubtedly ditch the pubs for their live shows a chance to rest and let the viagra kick in before going home. Deviance in approach to this extent has seen its fair share of merit in the past (Bring Me the Horizon, Motionless in White, etc), but since most that gravitate towards this type of music probably won’t be alive by the time the next Negative Frame album comes out, a return to what made their early projects great should be the sole focus to ensure funeral renditions aren’t played at wakes across the UK.
Break The Ice, in actuality, is a great album if you manage to somehow tune out the vocals. If that’s not possible, “9 Circles“, aside from a couple of C4-laced belows, is a near-fully instrumental track, and the best by extension. It’s a simultaneous testament and indictment that the absence of a single element affects listenability this much, but that’s nonetheless where we find ourselves in this instance. If Break The Ice was instead forty minutes of varied beatdown hardcore with minimal oral intrusion, it might’ve contended with Negative Frame‘s prior work for their best. Disappointment would be too kind a characterization of Break The Ice‘s shortcomings, especially when Negative Frame have historically been much better than this.
Even so, that crisp Negative Frame production is still omnipresent. Irrespective of what you think of the record itself, there’s little in the way of arguing how polished Break The Ice is from an engineering standpoint. However, that stands to either be a point of reinforcement or a saving grace for Negative Frame. All in all, whatever the consensus of Breaking The Ice may end up being, dysfunctional hearing is the only viable excuse for pretending the crossroads of crowd-killers and seminary school students doesn’t at least sound technically varnished.
Make no mistake, Break The Ice has its moments. The homicide-inducing musicianship that’s been there from the beginning for the London outfit still shines through for the most part, despite Drowning Pool seemingly hijacking the mic and guitars at intermittent junctures of the record. Normally, this would amount to nothing more than a slight oddity of choice. Yet because of a perenial demand by Negative Frame to incorporate such facets in the most unimaginative way possible, when it rains on Break The Ice, it’s a torential downpour. Here’s hoping this is nothing more than an anomalous blunder for Negative Frame.
