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Stronger than Frost, the debut from Russia's Kamlath, came to me under the Black Metal genre but one look at the art told me this was much more in the Gothic Metal mold. My instincts proved correct as there are only flashes of Black Metal on Stronger Than Frost, in the form of occasional blast beats and rare raspy vocals. The album is dominated by the depressive baritone of Marco Benevento. Not as deep or anguished as, say, Pete Steele, Benevento nonetheless is far from a happy guy. The rest of the band play with more restraint than you might expect and that really gives some of the individual performances room to breathe, highlighted by the fantastic, emotive lead guitar work of Mike Wead. His understated solos on "Thy Revelation" and "One Tired Wise" are blueprints for getting the most effect from the least amount of notes. No need to force a ton of triplets or arpeggios down the listeners' throats.

While the performances are quite good, the songs themselves are a bit bland. There aren't any real standouts or songs that beg for repeated plays and that makes Stronger than Frost a bit of a background music album. A good one, to be sure, but not much beyond that. Kamlath have chops and just need some truly great songs on which to flex them.