I.C.E - Apocalyptic End In White

I.C.E
Apocalyptic End In White
Crash Music
9.5/10




‘Apocalyptic End In White’ features the hands down “coolest” (pardon the pun) album cover on a black metal album ever. The band members are pictured as alien wizards summoning flying octopi amongst a backdrop of gleaming frost.

From the album’s first frostbitten scream proclaiming “We are fucking I.C.E…” you know that you are in for one hell of an album. And yes, folks Hell HAS frozen over, overtaken by Bleak, Mammoth, Blisserred and Icesickkill, the frost summoning alien wizards from the realm of arctic blasts blinding snow who command the wintry destructive power that is known as Imperial Crystalline Entombment.

Insanely fast, chilling blasts propel accelerated black metal rhythms which are accentuated by piercing northern screams and numbing shrieks. The band’s demo EP caused a great stir in the black metal community upon its release, prompting wild speculation about the group and its undertakings. A tremendous amount of anticipation has surrounded the release of this album, and with good reason.

With ‘Apocalyptic End In White’, I.C.E. has managed to emerge as the black metal band with not only the best image in the genre, but as some of the most incredibly proficient musicians as well. Summoned from the sub-zero abyss, I.C.E. dominates on tracks such as ‘Astral Frost Invocation’ and ‘Convulsing Frigid Death’.

This band is the total package – visuals, lyrics, music, mysterious personas and most of all they take their frigid concept and extend it into every facet of their existence. The bracing speed of ‘Cascade Cavern Catharsis’ slices through your skin while ‘Behold Thy Frozen Arctic Kingdom’ envelops you inside its gelid grasp with blistering licks and a brain freezing breakdown that proves this band does not always need to play at top speed in order to be decisively lethal.

’Upheaving The Ancient Thirst’ unleashes a flurry of Arctic magic, a hailstorm of riffs that drift into one another with a howl like the Northern winds. The unrelenting nature of the band’s sonic attack is remarkable as they slam through blast after blast like a machine. For those that are of the opinion that this band sounds like Immortal, let me clue you in. Immortal cannot touch I.C.E. Period.

Rise winter zombies, Rise! I.C.E. has come forth to chill you to the bone. Behold the frigid winter nightmare that is Imperial Crystalline Entombment!


ERIN FOX © 2005 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED