When an album arrives with its accompanying press pack bearing the words “female fronted melodic symphonic death metal” emblazoned across its expensively-produced cover page, you can be forgiven for immediately jumping to conclusions and almost pre-judging what said opus is going to sound like – somewhere in between Nightwish and Arch Enemy probably would be a fairly justified guestimate.

This debut full-lengther from Austrian sextet Everlasting Dawn certainly wears its heart on its sleeve, with the cover art depicting soprano Lisa holding said bleeding organ… unfortunately, what is contained inside does nothing to dispose of the preconceptions which the aforesaid media collateral invokes.

‘Of Frozen Hearts…’ is fairly mediocre, run of the mill fare – although it does have some very good interludes, such as the hugely melodic death metal of ‘World Domination’ or the edginess of ‘Rotten Love’: however, while the performances – in particular those of Lisa and guitarist-vocalist Dave Slut (should he not be in a glunk band with a name like that?) – are competent, and at times more than so, it’s an album of as-yet unfulfilled promise.

The main fault is the textbook song arrangements – there’s nothing that really jumps out and grabs you, and there are too many moments where potential is snapped away… the melody on ‘Last Thoughts Of Dying Days’, for example, is quickly over-ruled by a needless barrage of blastbeats, where perhaps allowing its underlying haunting nature to have been developed further would have made a far more impressive mid-album interlude. And there are several moments, scattered throughout the album, where discordant keyboards crash into the harmonies, unannounced and unwelcome guests.

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