Trapped Under Ice - Heatwave

Baltimore Maryland's Own "Trapped Under Ice" for the last few years has been seriously making some waves in the Hardcore community.  I first got a chance to listen to these guys on their "Stay Cold" EP.  For the most part, this EP was a solid intro to the band.  It was about 10 minutes long, but there were a LOT of great elements, from the chugging guitars on "Between The Sheets" to the thunderous title track.  But tracks like "Half a Person" and "Brainwaves" showed that Trapped Under Ice still had to buckle down on their instrumentals.  Shortly after, Trapped Under Ice brought us their first full-length album, "Secrets of the World".  This album was absolutely massive, with each track heavier than the last.  It also showed the band in a short period of time had really started honing their structure.  Tracks like "Believe" and "Gemini" were fantastic hardcore tracks.  But this album also showed Trapped Under Ice incorporating more Metal elements, which I honestly really thought worked well for them.  The very unhinged sound, as well as the wild solos, gave Trapped Under ice even more of a hellish feel to their music.  But it also brought things down in places, as tracks like "From Birth" and "TUI" had so many chugging guitars that I could barely sit through them.  In 2011 Trapped Under Ice released their longest album yet by far, "Big Kiss Goodnight".  Now when I saw this album was 40 minutes long, I honestly worried.  Would Trapped Under Ice be able to fill 40 minutes of compelling hardcore punk?  The answer is, absolutely.  This album showed Trapped Under Ice working on everything I worried about in their early days.  The breakdowns here were expertly crafted, the song ideas were much more thought out, without sacrificing any of their ballsy attitudes.  Trapped Under Ice are back with their first album in quite some time.  Like, it's been 6 years.  Honestly, I can't wait to dive into this thing, so let's talk about it.

This album starts off with “Backstabbed”, and Trapped Under Ice are clearly not wasting a single second.  The riff here is muscular, the vocals are explosive, and I love the sheer force behind this one.  The guitar solo on this opening is a nice touch well.  And as always, I love the overblown chugging guitars that are Over-The-Top just enough to be brilliant.  Call me nuts, but with an album like this could we have asked for more of an exciting intro than “Backstabbed”?  Up next, “XL” brings in a very dark sound that I really dig.  Now, for a Hardcore Punk tune, I appreciate the slightly prolonged intro.  It actually ends up building some seriously nice tension.  Of course, then it explodes into just the sort of burst of aggression and raw power that I wanted to hear from Trapped Under Ice.  It’s beefy, it’s destructive, it’s intense, can we really ask for much more?  Not to mention, that last 10 seconds of completely zany instrumentals make “XL” a blast.  By the time “No Relief” comes around, I feel like it would be criminal to not mention how incredibly focused the band sounds.  So far, there has been no fluff or weak moments at all.  I love the absolutely destructive riff here as well as the strained and agitated singing.  The brute force of these tracks continues to be completely overwhelming.  Also, I really like a lot of the instrumental breaks that make up a lot of these tracks, like the extended bass solo on “No Relief”.  It really ends up breaking things up nicely before the last pummeling 20 seconds or so.  Then we have “Do It”, which is a little more technical sounding, with a whole lot more of the focus on the almost grunge instrumentals here.  But I love just how aggressive and dirty sounding the band is coming off.  There’s certainly nothing present about this.  For as long as it’s been between material, Trapped Under Ice sound really great.  Plus, there’s a gigantic amount of tension in these tracks that I wasn’t expecting to hear.  

    “Throw It Away” is one of the most straightforward tracks here, exploding milliseconds into the track.  But sadly I’m not nearly as crazy about some of the verses here.  Mostly, it’s the more grunted, deeper vocals that turn me off.  Outside of that, this sounds just fine to me, to be honest, and the very skillful solos continue to be a really nice touch.  Overall, this one is alright, I just wish the vocals were a little harsher.  Thankfully, “Pressure Is On” is a return to the harsh sound that I was looking for, at least as far as the instrumentals go.  The instrumentals on this one just come off so blistering and powerful.  But once again some cracks are beginning to show in Trapped Under Ice.  I’m honestly not really feeling the sort of groove metal feel to this one, and the vocals once again leave a lot to be desired.  Overall, this track really didn’t hit me too hard at all.  And when you’re dealing with such a short album, hiccups like this really hurt the band.  Thankfully, Trapped Under Ice completely redeem themselves with “Oblivion”.  This one zooms right into of the most intense verses here.  It really doesn’t get much more intense than “Oblivion” to be honest.  The vocals are rough, the instrumentals are bone shattering, and everything seems right where it should be for Trapped Under Ice.  Even that more heavy, sluggish breakdown in the tracks closing moments comes off great.  And trust me, THAT could have been sloppy.  Then we have another slight hiccup, “Slow Death”.  For the most part, this one is just a little too straightforward for my liking.  Like, there’s little to no grit to this at all.  Sure, there are some really intense moments in the verse, but there isn’t nearly as much bit here as other tracks.  Hell, this almost comes across as a little watered down, which is something I really didn’t expect to say here.  There are some great elements though, like those solos.  But overall this one gets on my nerves.  If you’re going to give us a 14-minute album, you really don’t have time to give us this much filler.  

    Trapped Under Ice isn’t done with us yet.  “Heatwave” is up next, and this one certainly has the instrumental down pact.  Hell, there’s almost a seriously classic Old School sounding Hardcore Punk sound.  But once again, some of the vocals on this one don’t completely click with me.  Obviously, these are some of the more melodic vocals here, which is totally fine.  But I just really don’t think it clicks with the sound of this track.  But on the other hand, I have absolutely zero complaints about “Other Side”.  This is everything I could have asked to hear from Trapped Under Ice, and might just be the most focused and aggressive sounding track here.  I mean, this track is SERIOUSLY pummeling.  There are no gimmicks, no detours, just raw power.  Once again I love the sort of Classic, Old School Hardcore feel to this once again.  Plus, as far as the breakdown here goes, this is easily one of the best of the entire album.  Even the more grunted vocals come off just fine, where was this on some of the weaker moments?  Thankfully, Trapped Under Ice do end off on a positive note with “Move”.  At first, I really wasn’t too sure about the production on this one.  But I seriously have ended up loving just how ridiculous and almost hilariously crushing this track is.  Instrumentally this one is a little hit and miss, and it is a little straightforward.  But there really isn’t anything too gigantically flawed about this one either.  My only real issue is, I want more.  This doesn’t serve as a real ending, it’s more of a cliffhanger.  But still, “Move” is a decent finale.  

Rating: 7.6/10

Give A Listen To: "XL" "No Relief", "Do It", "Oblivion"

Overall Thoughts:  Is this a good Hardcore Punk album?  Hell yes.  Is this a great return to form for Trapped Under Ice?  Hell Yes.  Is this a pretty intense album with not a ton of filler at all?  Hell yes.  Is this, after 6 years of waiting only 14 minutes long.  Sadly.......hell yes.  This album isn't really bad at all.  Yea there are a few questionable points, but the real trouble is it's length.  By the end of this album, I'm just getting started and need some more.  14 minutes for a full length album is criminally short, even for a Hardcore album like this.  But hey, there's still a lot of great stuff on here that needs to be heard if you like the genre.