Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2025
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Frantic > As Dawn Came... > Reviews > bayern
Frantic - As Dawn Came...

From the Flaming Dusk till the Frantic Dawn - 91%

bayern, March 9th, 2017

Frantic were a logical product of their time when the demands for more complex ways of execution were growing alongside the newly emerged aggro/groovy sounds. Our friends paid no attention whatsoever to the latter as their focus was entirely on the progressive/technical side of the spectre; which should come as no surprise provided that the band founders were also behind the wizards Flaming Anger, one of them none other than the guitar master Marco Stutzer (also the progressive metallers Daily Reign). The guys were dexterously juggling between the two bands producing very high quality music on both fronts for a few years before Flaming Anger took a lengthy break.

The Frantic delivery was marginally more conventional compared to the frantic (no pun intended), multi-layered technicality on the Flaming Anger works with more speed metal-oriented riff-patterns as evident from the debut demo (“Welcome to Paradise”, 1990) which cited Angel Dust, Scanner and Paradox as the main influences. Unfortunately, the sophomore demo is irrevocably lost to the world so I have no idea how the sound on it had evolved from the first showing, but on the demo reviewed here the guys have reached full maturity. In their case this means that some of the initial fast-paced aggression has been abandoned, the compositions have become longer and more elaborate, and more melody has been introduced into the songs’ structure.

No complaints at all as “Reign of Remains” opens the demo with sharp lashing guitars and accompanying violin dashes, this “duel” serving as the best possible intro to a progressive masterpiece which creeps forward patiently initially, accumulating speed bit by bit until it turns into a speed/thrashing complexer with technical riffs galore provided at every corner alongside the blazing leads and the several more quiet sections. 7.5-min of the fan’s time have been very well spent, but there’s more to come like “A Deathlike Sleep”, for example, a dynamic amorphous shredder with elaborate fever-pitch crescendos and intense nearly death metal-like dramatic build-ups that become faster as time goes by, relieved by a brilliant melodic lead stroke later. “Kirlian Eyes” takes its time with a sprawling balladic beginning, and although the riff-patterns gradually become more intense, this number remains more on the melodic side with echoes of Scanner, early Fates Warning, and Toxik’s “Think This”; a more lyrical approach which perfectly suits the excellent dramatic vocals of Karsten Kuhling, a talented “tenor” who sang on the first Flaming Anger demo, and later graced with his talents the progressive metal masters Sore Plexus.

“Seize the Day” makes up for the partially lost inertia with fast, blistering rhythms the band eager to shoot as many steel cutting riffs as possible, unleashing some of the most impetuous technical gallops this side of Helstar’s “Nosferatu”; there’s no letting up whatsoever here the guys speed/thrashing with the utmost dedication for nearly 7-min leaving room for several soaring melodies towards the end. An “Instrumental” follows suit with a crunchy bass-dominated start the riffs taking over before long with more gallops entering the scene, their stride dispersed by more authoritative bass burps inserted later, and a vortex-like rifforama provided as “dessert” putting an end to the original material here. The finale is in the form of a fairly entertaining cover of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” turned into a speed/thrashing roller-coaster with nice melodic licks and an additional doze of pensive, echoing bassisms.

The band had by all means “seized the day” with this recording adding a sheer classic metal beast on the 90’s groove/post-thrashy “menu” which again in Germany came more diverse with quite a few other outfits doing the same thing. It was perfectly coordinated with what was going on around the underground “resistance” movement, the guys determined to make as much contribution as they could to bring the new old school dawn. With Deathrow, Living Death, Paradox, and Sieges Even (the latter due to a change of style) gone, it was up to the new forces to lay the foundations for the restoration process to commence. Our “frantic” friends did participate more actively in it, but under the Flaming Anger moniker again; Stutzer and Co. decided to give their previous configuration one more go, with the excellent “Biosphere II” (1997), the only full-length released by them under any guise, also closing the speed/thrashing chapter of their career, except for Kuhling who joined the previously mentioned Sore Plexus for a few more spells within the more aggressive metal realms.

Be it frantic or flaming, the guys’ exploits left a trace on the scene making the 90’s a fine place to live. I believe they should know by now that the progressive/technical side of our beloved metal would always find room for a few more incendiary, combustible blends; so maybe it’s time for them to set the new millennium sphere… sorry, scene, on fire…