Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Well, the story won’t be very interesting. Frozen Ocean was founded in Moscow, Russia at the very end of 2005, produced several demos, and started official discography from 2008 with the debut EP “Depths of Subconscious”. From the beginning and till present times Frozen Ocean consists of one member Vaarwel, who plays all instruments and vocals, and also makes all the mixing and mastering work.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Every Frozen Ocean release has a distinctive style different from previous (excepting conceptual series like “Norse” trilogy). They vary from atmospheric black metal to drone dark ambient, and often represent a fusion of styles, like on the last release “The Dyson Swarm”, that is an alloy of midtempo electronics, ambient and dark metal. Talking about influences, the whole approach and inspiration came to me mostly from Ulver and their pretty versatile discography. For every single release there were its own influences.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Because they represents good music, I guess. The aim of the project is to produce albums full of music with good composing quality, that is relatively easy to perceive and equipped with a conception which extends the whole impression, and awesome artwork is the final necessary feature that augments everything into one picture. Every single Frozen Ocean album is a special picture of that kind.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
There were eight full-length albums, five EPs and two splits for all time the project exists. Almost every release is expressed in distinctive style and thoroughly described on project’s offical site to ease a choice to potential listener. The reception was not so wide, but almost always pretty good and loyal, collecting bunches of good reviews and some press. I hope that on next releases the width of reception will expand.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
No, I don’t, since Frozen Ocean is a studio project. Hence, Frozen Ocean never played live, but maybe in future it will happen.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
The most important thing about Frozen Ocean’s music is that it could be easily visualized and has a narration, neither is directed to obtain a simple (or even complex) emotional reaction from the listener. Majority of my works are expressed in relatively unusual fusion of styles, which I guess makes them more interesting to a listener that some common trendy material. That’s why they would be interesting to release, promote, describe and listen.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
To produce more good stuff, and I have a lot of intentions. There will be tape release very soon – the whole “Norse” trilogy on one cassette, for true underground activists, by Italian label Bylec-Tum Productions. Also a noise/dark ambient full-length is coming this year, all the rest of plans are too loose for now to unveil. I hope next year more disctinctive and special Frozen Ocean’s atmospheric metal will be presented.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Almost all releases are available to listen on project’s soundcloud page: https://soundcloud.com/froznocean/sets
Frozen Ocean CDs are easy to buy directly from project or labels, also everybody can find them on discogs.com or BigCartel: http://frozenoceanrus.bigcartel.com
July 2014