This was a blind buy--saw the Christophe Szpajdel logo on the front, took a moment to verify the disc was in good shape, and bought it without bothering to look up the band or even scrutinize the booklet much. I would have expected black or black/death metal based on the logo, but these guys are clearly fans of the Children of Bodom debut. The power metal influence and flashiness/shreddiness of the guitars is toned down slightly, and I wouldn't argue if someone pointed out that specific parts are actually much closer to some specific melodic DM band (I do kinda hear Ensiferum in a few places), but there's almost nothing here that isn't at least somewhat reminiscent of Something Wild. Frozen Eternity doesn't use keyboards quite as much and it still reminds me of how Children of Bodom incorporate them. About the only thing that didn't remind me of CoB to some extent musically was the blasting section that opens "Wasted Life."
The drums are programmed but it's not particularly noticeable so I didn't mind them. The only musical misstep I can really point out here are the out-of-tune secondary/backing vox on the closing track "Frozen Eternity." They sound like they might have been doubled up, which makes me think they were a very clumsy attempt at choral vocals.
Obviously, there's nothing particularly original here, and this obviously shares some similarities with any power metal-tinged melodeath band that uses raspier, more BM-style vocals, not just Children of Bodom. Can't say it's one of my favorite styles of metal, either. But it is energetic and proficient enough to not seem very derivative, as well as be worth what I paid for it.
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