Album Review: Features and Causes of the Frozen Origin (Frown)

Features and Causes of the Frozen Origin is the debut album by the unpopular band Frown, released on Halloween 2001. I discovered this band when I posted in the Type O Negative group on Facebook asking if there’s any band that is similar musically to Type O. Few of the commenters said Frown then I listened to this one on YouTube and felt this album is close to the same style as Type O in terms of composition and rhythm, then I downloaded it and continued to grow on me more. The sound is described as having gothic metal music flavored with doom, alternative and even influences of indie. The vocals by Marian Drac has deep baritones very similar in style to the late Peter Steele. The keyboards are very abundant, seemingly even more so than many Type O Negative albums, giving songs the flavors that otherwise would be uninterested. Keyboard is what keeps the album from freezing up.

The first track, “Unnatural Notion of Love”, is, well, short to serve as the intro. “Dawning for a Sweet Girl” dawns with a sweet acoustic guitar then rises into the riffs on top with sweet keyboard hum that sweet girls may find to their liking. The title track is a good one; it’s very diverse that would please Type O Negative fans. The song is thought to end at 2:30 but the song continues for close to another 4 minutes with another part, a.k.a. canto. Many Type O Negative songs split into distinct parts, which I call the subdivisions cantos. Resuming the song, the second canto starts with an acoustic guitar before getting back to rocky riffs fested with organ about 80 seconds later. “Enslaved Hope” has instrumentation commonly used in symphonic metal bands like Symphony X. “Breath for Dead” is not so Type O doomy track featuring high distorted guitar and piano. “Purged by God” is where God takes you to a darker place. It has flickering organ and a typical Type O-like riffs. “Dreadful Moon” by Frown is analogous to “Wolf Moon” by Type O. Not only that, it got similar instrumentation as Type O’s with signature changes. Altogether, the song would make you sit on the ground in the woods in the dark and look up at the full moon despite your dreadful feeling. If you’re sitting next to a tree, you’re likely on the dark side of the bark! That’s a segue track having same rhythm as the intro except with acoustic guitar replacing electric guitar. “Skyline” is my least favorite and the most unique track of the album. It is the nonmetal track with low-tuned keyboard producing depressing sound. Then we get out of the dark and into the light of the day in the album’s closing track “I’m Haunted”, which is very good. The repetitive keyboard rhythm with guitar running beneath it promote feelings of being in a haunted-style house with daylight coming in.

All in all, this album is the one to experience with rhythms, instrumentations, flavors, and compositions. Although there are few differences in musical makeup, the album is within the Type O class. The similarity of this album to Type O Negative soothes my feelings slightly about Type O Negative career ending early due to Peter’s death. Frown’s Features and Causes of the Frozen Origin is a good side addition to my Type O Negative discography that slides in between World Coming Down and Life Is Killing Me in chronology!

6.5/10