FROZEN SOUL Channels BOLT THROWER And Returns Death Metal To Its Primitive Ways

By David E. Gehlke

Death metal's extraordinary longevity and continued relevance are exemplified by the consistency of its legacy acts (CANNIBAL CORPSE, OBITUARY),brilliant left-field artists (BLOOD INCANTATION) and its next wave of bands who are likely to hold down the fort for decades to come, namely, Texas bruisers FROZEN SOUL. The quintet formed in 2018, hooked up with Century Media Records in time for their 2021 "Crypt Of Ice" debut, hit the road, then popped out 2023's "Glacial Domination", then hit the road again. The miles logged while on tour and time on stage inspired the no-frills, all-killer, no-filler direction of their third studio album, "No Place Of Warmth".

Highlighted by its opening title track that includes a surprising guest appearance from MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE lead singer Gerard Way as well as a collaboration with MACHINE HEAD's Rob Flynn, "No Place Of Warmth" is overflowing with chunky, groove-laden, catchy, mosh-intensive death metal that is less about technicality and more about fun, a word rarely associated with the style. Moreover, the band's lyrics about empowerment, overcoming obstacles and self-belief are a welcome respite from the evergreen themes of skulls, maggots and getting chopped in half. BLABBERMOUTH.NET tracked down frontman Chad Green to discuss all of the above, as well as how he maintains his mental health, the future of death metal and the band that remains FROZEN SOUL's primary inspiration, the sorely missed BOLT THROWER.

Blabbermouth: You have been non-stop since "Crypt Of Ice". Is the grind wearing you down? How are you holding up?

Chad: "I'd say I'm doing better than I feel like I should. [Laughs] It's been pretty rough being on the road. I'm not going to lie. It's really tough, and it feels like a very daunting task sometimes, especially if you get three weeks at home before you start another one. It's like as soon as you get into the normal routine of taking care of the things you take care of normally, you have to go back out again. Then you have to come home and remember how to do it all again. It gets a little rough, but I'm holding up. I've been health-focused for a while now. I've kind of gone back and forth while on tour, but the last, like, four or five tours, we had workouts six days a week. We get up, find a gym and my drummer [Matt Dennard] and I work out. That's how we start every day. It's become something we really love, just focusing on being positive. It can be rough. It's like coming home from war. Obviously, I'm not comparing it to that, but it's a different set of rules and things out here, then you go home, and you're like, 'What do I do?' There's a definite battle we're fighting, but I'm doing good overall."

Blabbermouth: You started the band as a fun thing, and it took off fast. Has it been a matter of learning as you go, especially when it comes to the road and being around the same people all of the time?

Chad: "There's been times where we're all at each other's throats because we've been broke and stressed and running rampant. I think, as we've grown as people, after the band has been together, we've gotten used to how things have to be out here. It's gotten easier for all of us because we've all gotten a lot closer. It's helped a lot and gotten better. There is nobody that could ever — I could have talked to the greatest of the great, and I could have never prepared for what we've gotten into. I would have never known, like the little, tiny things you encounter; it's like you wouldn't have thought of that when you are home. It's something that's on the road that you'll have to deal with."

Blabbermouth: "No Place Of Warmth" is the all-pivotal third album. You said in a quote that you wanted to "cut all of the fat" out of your songs. What was that a result of? All of this touring?

Chad: "I think it was more about just the 'fun' factor of the record. When Mike [Munday, guitar] and I started the band, it was all about fun. We were working on other stuff with another band, and it was constantly falling through. We recorded a whole record, did everything, and we were taking it so seriously; then we started this band: 'We have some riffs that are too heavy for that band, so we'll make this new band.' It was all about fun. I think when we got to 'Crypt', we had a lot of pressure on us because we got signed and we wanted to write a good record, but we didn't know what the hell we were doing. We wrote something we were super-stoked about, then we got to 'Glacial'. We tried to change things up, to experiment, to do something different. I think there are a lot of songs on it that we absolutely love. And there are some that we don't love as much. I think the experience of that record really taught us that we needed to stop thinking so much about just what crowds are going to think, what people, what agents — just stop thinking about it and have fun. Return to the true form that started this band. I think when we got down to it, we also didn't have very much material written for the record because we've been on the road non-stop. It's hard to get into a zone when writing. It's funny: If we're going to come out here and feel this pressure and be non-stop, why don't we try to have as much fun as we can? Songs like 'Absolute Zero' and 'Skinned By The Wind', those were not songs. Those were pieces of other things we had years ago. There's a lot of stuff on this record, like we've had riffs from the 'Crypt Of Ice' days. We kept them, and we're like, 'We got all of this cool stuff. The last record we experimented. We thought longer songs would be better. I don't think, live, it feels great to us. It's not as fun.' I was like, 'Why don't we shorten everything?' We started talking about it, and we tried to fill out the record now that we've gotten down to it. We had these little parts we planned to turn into songs. I was sitting there and doing lyrics with Josh [Schroeder, producer]—we were at the studio one day by ourselves, and I said, 'Let's listen to these.' He listened to them and said, 'That's a song already. You don't need anything else.' I was like, 'Yeah. Do we need anything else? That's the part we hope to hit when we put it in a song, so why don't we make that the song?' So it boiled down to the one thing: Fun. How do we make this a fun experience? And how can we match our energy live? We've grown a lot from all of these tours. We've been under a lot of pressure to play on really big stages where we feel completely just not…right. [Laughs] It was so strange to us. We've been put in a lot of situations that felt kind of like trial by fire. I think we have changed so much from these experiences that we now have a completely different stage presence than before. We're moving around a lot, and I've got my mic stand. Everybody has their personality. We tried to think, 'How can we make this record feel like a bomb has gone off on everyone's face?' It matches that feel live we have as a band."

Blabbermouth: The band is students of death metal, especially early death metal. Those bands prided themselves on writing "songs" and not worrying about the technical aspect. How much of that is a factor?

Chad: "We're just wanting to play the music that we love. We're not ripping all of these bands off, but also, at our core, we have a lot of hardcore and punk influences, so we love the energy, but if you watch other death metal bands, you see the same energy. A lot of them were punks and liked hardcore. It's all the same. We just wanted to match that. There's this video of OBITUARY on YouTube. I'm sure you can find it. I think it's 'Turned Inside Out', and it's this video when they were kids, and they basically jump into the song. As soon as they jump into the song, everyone starts flying onto the stage."

Blabbermouth: You're talking about a show they did at the Marquee in London in 1991. It would have been during the "Cause Of Death" era.

Chad: "Yeah! That right there is the band we want to be. That's what we wanted to do. We came into touring with TERROR and THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and NAPALM DEATH and all of these bands. We have those different sides, and we take a piece of that with us. Honestly, this record feels like the first real FROZEN SOUL record. To me, at least. I honestly feel like every song on this record should be a single and have a video."

Blabbermouth: You've shared how Gerard Way's guest appearance came together on the title track. What have the reactions been thus far?

Chad: "It's mostly been positive; I've been surprised. I thought we'd catch a lot of hate, but none of us care. At the end of the day, we're trying to have fun, and that's why Gerard did it. He did it to have fun. We were super stoked about how it came out. He loves the song. He's basically, 'Any time you play L.A., I'm down.' It was fun. Yes, to answer the question, there have been some really cool comments I've seen. It's like from elitist metal dudes that are actually like, 'FROZEN SOUL sucks, but the song is kind of cool.' [Laughs] 'It sounds pretty cool. I actually kinda like it.' That's the whole point. It's cool to see love from all angles."

Blabbermouth: You mention playing larger venues. Getting a guy like Gerard ties into that since his band is so big.

Chad: "Mike and I talk about this a lot: We don't look to do what everyone else is doing, like the standard. I don't know—if I see someone doing too much of something, I'd like to keep us doing something differently. If I see our friends doing something, we try to do something purposely not like that. For this, Gerard, honestly, I didn't think he was going to say yes. I texted him, and he texted me back within a couple of minutes, saying he was totally down to do it. I was half-joking but thought it would be amazing if it would happen. It worked out great. He saw that with us as a band and the topics I talk about in our songs, it's very serious. There are some sprinkled-in death metal songs that are about the usual topics, but in most of them, this is my way to deal with the things I don't know how to talk about. I think that's the thing about MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE: There's a lot of emotion in their music, and there is in ours, too. To your point, it does connect with the crowds."

Blabbermouth: Speaking of mental health, a lot of your lyrics address that, along with inclusivity and equality. It's almost un-death metal in a way. How are these topics resonating?

Chad: "Whatever mental health is to anyone else, it's about bringing things like emotion out to the front, like Trevor [Strnad] with THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER. We were on tour with DYING FETUS at the time [when Strand committed suicide in 2022]. He was one of the guys who helped push us out in the underground once we put our demo out. He was buying all of our stuff; it was so awesome. I started doing it because it really impacted me, because Trevor's death was a wake-up call. As someone I looked up to that I thought was a very successful musician that was successful and had it all and had his life and passion. If that could take him over, what kind of hope do I have? What kind of hope do I have as someone who is just so much lower on the totem pole of life? It started with that, then my brother passed away. The list is insane. It became more about how this band relates to our collective experiences in life. It's never going to be 'maggots, skulls, bleeding death and cutting people in half!' It's all put in, since the very beginning, like a song like 'Hand Of Vengeance', they have their meanings, but it's all based on the idea that you're the main character, or whoever is listening is the main character, and they're battling the foe that feels like the last foe that they're going to have to face. As more records go by, it's more about who we are. Now, we might as well be making wrestler's theme songs, like people are going out their door every day to fight [pro wrestler] The Rock."

Blabbermouth: We all love "A Skull Full Of Maggots", but what you just said is a little more important.

Chad: "I try to write lyrics in a general sense. I grew up in not the best of situations. I needed a hero in my life; I didn't have one, so I needed to find the motivation to be my hero in my story. I used that in music, and it was my background music as I dealt with life. I feel that's naturally how FROZEN SOUL is, and when I write lyrics for it, it's very much so that someone can pick out a lyric and feel 'Hell yeah!' and feel badass so they can get up and do the laundry when they don't want to get off the couch and feel like they're glued to it. It's very much a thing. It can still be brutal — like vanquishing and killing, all the brutal, gruesome stuff."

Blabbermouth: Do you feel like FROZEN SOUL is part of that next wave of bands that will be responsible for keeping death metal going? Some of the legendary bands who have kept this style going for decades aren't getting any younger.

Chad: "I don't think we're the line of succession or anything like that. We're just playing music. I love death metal. I love the old-school guys; we've become friends with a lot of them, and they influenced us. I hope they live forever. I would really hate to leave the remains up to a band like us. We don't know what we're doing. [Laughs] They're the kings. Straight-up. It's so weird to hear people even remotely say that. It weirds me out. [Laughs] For me, I just see ourselves as a band that's going to play shows and do it for as long as we can. I see these amazing bands that influenced us, and they influenced so many people, and I don't know if we can do what they did. Or, if the way we do it will impact people the way they did. It's not our intention. I don't honestly know. I think there's a lot of sick, younger bands coming up, and heavy music in general is in such an awesome place. If I had it my way, we'd keep touring with our friends, but I don't know what will happen when those legacy bands stop. When we toured with OBITUARY and CANNIBAL CORPSE, I looked at them like they were gods. They are immortal. It's too dark for me to think about!"

Blabbermouth: Speaking of legacy bands, you are unabashed in your love of BOLT THROWER. What is it about them that you like so much?

Chad: "For me, BOLT THROWER is the number one death metal band. I think they are. Period. Their tone, Karl's [Willetts] vocals, everything is so unique. They are the reason why FROZEN SOUL exists. It wasn't because, 'We want to be the new BOLT THROWER.' Nothing like that. That's the band that made me want to play death metal. I love CANNIBAL, all of those bands. I especially love OBITUARY, and I love OBITUARY for the same reason I love BOLT THROWER so much, so that's why they're right there next to BOLT THROWER. I'm a normal guy. I'm not a crazy musician. I'm a mediocre drummer. I felt like bands like BOLT THROWER and OBITUARY play in the pocket. They just hit it. The vocals line up with the beat; it's so groovy. And groove runs in our blood. When I saw BOLT THROWER play in 2013, I lost my mind. It changed my life. I was like, 'Oh my god, this is exactly the thing I want to do.' I was playing in a hardcore band back then and were writing metal riffs for people to mosh to, but it was always going to lead to playing metal. With BOLT THROWER, you can't pin any other band on them."

Photo by Matt Guajardo