The newcomers from Frostshock are currently stirring up the underground with their self-titled debut album (read the review HERE). A good reason to find out more about the band's background and their excellent, explosive death/thrash mixture. The bandmembers, who likeable don't take themselves so deadly serious, are delighted and grateful for the recognition they are currently receiving. But read for yourself.
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Please tell the readers of the Systematic Desensitization Zine how and when Frostshock was founded. I read in the band biography that a Destruction show probably played a not insignificant role. Is that a favorite band that you can all agree on?
We've actually known each other for ages and have all been making music together since we were young! Our frontman Flemming (vox/guitar) got his first guitar lessons from Matze (guitar). And Fabian (drums) has also jammed mainly with Matze and Flemming since his youth. Daniel (bass) is Flemming's cousin and after his rather jazz/hard rock influenced youth he soon fell for metal and completed the band. Since thrash metal has always been the kind of music that makes everyone's hair fly, the formation during the Destruction gig fits pretty well! If we had to choose one band that all members can agree on, it would probably be Suicidal Angels or Vektor.
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Matze and Fabian formed their first band called Angrist with two other friends during their school days. On the Frostshock debut album, a riff from back then was dug up and worked out in the song of the same name! This became our most successful song to date on YouTube. The two then played together in a band called Fleshback, which had amassed quite a fan base in and around Haltern am See. They played several live shows and the two grew together musically. After this time, Matze and Fabian went their separate ways, as Matze had moved away for work. At this time Flemming, Fabian and Tuschi (Destroy Them, For our sons) founded the band Methhead. This was the first time they played concerts nationwide. This band also laid the foundation for Frostshock. After a few great years, the band split up and the guys went their separate ways musically. It was only at the aforementioned Destruction concert shortly before the corona pandemic that friends Flemming and Fabian met Matze again and the three of them decided to make music together again!
How have the reactions to your debut album been so far?
The reactions have been consistently positive! To be more precise, incredibly positive! The more concerts we play and the more reviews we read, the more we believe that we have composed a really great record!
At this point, a big thank you to the local metal community, who supported us in the beginning and still do now. From the "Drunken Car Review" by Goreminister to the "Gift und Galle" podcast and the interview with "Baalphemor" to articles in Legacy or Metal Hammer "Helden des Monats" (which means "Heroes of the Month"-authors note), we always get incredibly kind words and simply feel at home in the scene!
That's currently a hotly debated topic! We wrote down the pros and cons of a label together and talk about it at almost every rehearsal. In any case, we are not completely averse to it! When we founded the band, we wanted to do everything from A to Z ourselves: write songs, record everything and promote everything ourselves so that we could learn as much as possible. We only left the mixing and mastering to other people. Greetings to Michi from Sick of Sound! If we should decide on a label we could think about a re-release of "Frostshock"!
I hear a lot of old Swedish melodic death metal in your music, i.e. old In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Ablaze my Sorrow or Unanimated. Fortunately, you play it so aggressively, especially because of the thrash influences, that you don't end up with the fabric softener version of this style, which unfortunately there are a lot of. Are the bands you mentioned influences, or which other bands would you name in particular? In particular, the Swedish band Dimension Zero come to mind, who also combine thrash with melodic death very skillfully, do you know them? What else are your favorites and influences?
Actually, we wouldn't describe any of the bands mentioned above as influences of our music! However, it has often been said that we are influenced by them and we can absolutely understand this opinion!
These bands have surely influenced us in one way or another: Skeletonwitch, Warbringer, Kataklysm, Dissection, Children of Bodom, Defleshed, Havok, The Offspring, Kreator, At the Gates, The Black Dahlia Murder, Ensiferum and Iron Maiden. Currently also Vektor and Suicidal Angels. Dimension Zero is still unknown but will be on the playlist!
Yes, "MorbusInfluencer " is the crusher on the album! We all listen to the bands mentioned above, with a few exceptions. So our tastes are very similar on the whole! Matze and Flemming are responsible for the songwriting! Daniel and I then lay down the rhythm and everything works!
Which shows have you played with which bands so far? I heard about you through a friend who saw you at the Turock Festival in Bochum, where Sodom were headlining. How many people did you play in front of there? How did you get on the billing there, through contacts or did you just ask?
We've only really been playing gigs since Methhead- era and big gigs only now with Frostshock. The Turock-Fest was our biggest gig so far in front of an crowd of estimated 600 people (the smaller hall was full!). We got on the billing through an online band contest on the Instagram page of the "Turock live-club" in Essen. Here the users could vote for their favorite! Thanks to the awesome community, we made it into the top six and were able to secure the slot.
Both the band name and the associated cover artwork of both bands reminded me a little of the US band Frozen Soul, who also have this ice theme. Have you or anyone else noticed this parallel? And are you familiar with the classic horror film "The Thing from Another World", which depicts such an end-time vision in a hostile ice desert? The lyrics to "Buried in Ice" and "Frostshock" also go in this direction.
Funnily enough, we could have spontaneously played together with Frozen Soul in Cologne at the beginning of August, but unfortunately had to cancel the show due to vacation! None of us knew the band until then! Now we would say that it would harmonize well.
"The Thing" is of course a classic that all of us have probably seen and may have subconsciously influenced the lyrics. Buried in Ice is about a manhunt in which the individual human being is no longer worth anything, based on themes such as human dignity or slavery.
In most cases, Flemming writes our texts. Fabian only had a hand in "Morbus Influencer". When the texts are finished, they are added to and finalized in the band frame. Experience has shown that this works best.
"Demolition of dignity" also focuses on human dignity and uses self-determined death as an example. The lyrics were written by Flemming and a script for a possible music video has already been discussed! Active euthanasia is still clearly prohibited by law in Germany, whereas a few kilometers away in the Netherlands or Switzerland, for example, there are certainly possibilities here! This fact alone makes it an exciting topic. The fact that there is currently a political discussion here is probably primarily due to our song, haha.
The great, atmospheric cover artwork was created by your singer and guitarist Flemming. It's a great piece of work, probably painted with oil. Does he only do this as a hobby, or for other bands as well? Or is he also professionally active in such a creative context?
Flemming is a creative genius. He paints with oil paints, fineliners or pencils. He also writes riffs, lyrics and always has a concept in mind for videos/photo shoots or similar. He does this exclusively as a hobby and only for Frostshock. Professionally he is a baker and works at night when we are lying in a warm bed!
We're releasing the first new single since the debut album at the turn of the year and are really looking forward to the fans' reactions! There's also a video shoot and the finishing touches to be made!
There will already be four concerts in January 2024 as planned! There are already some bangers in there! You can always find out when and where the next show will be played via Instagram. Otherwise look on our homepage under the "tour" tab. World domination is scheduled for August 2030, haha.
You come from Haltern am See. I've never been there, but it's supposed to be quite idyllic. Tell us something about your home town. Do you feel more like you belong to the Ruhr area or the Münsterland, Haltern am See is pretty much on the border between these regions. And are there any bands from your region that you would like to recommend?
Haltern am See is our home. We were all born and live here. As someone from Haltern, you don't feel like you belong to either the Münsterland or the Ruhr area. We are simply people from Haltern. It's definitely a nice place to live! But the sidewalks are rolled up here in the evening and so there is "almost" no nightlife. One exception is the "Stadtschänke" and the "Trigon". The cult pub and our youth club/concert venue. Here in Haltern, people tend to live for rock n roll and punk rock, so metal bands are rather rare. In neighboring town Marl, for example, there are our colleagues from Scraper and in Dülmen our friends Death by Exile or Hans Lazer Alien Slam.
Many thanks to you, Gerald, for the review of our debut album and many thanks for these questions! One notices the intensive occupation with album and band and that's the greatest pleasure for us! To the readers who don't know us yet, we can only say: Listen to our songs! And listen to them in full and not just the first few seconds. Our songs build up and surprise with melody changes to finally reach a climax!
To all those who already know and support us, we can only say a big Thank you! It was the best first year a band could wish for.
