Frost Like Ashes release A Melody Black on 15 January through Vision Of God Records, their first album since Tophet in 2005.
Twenty one years between a debut and its follow up is long enough that most bands in that position are reunions rather than continuations. Two songs from the new record are already streaming, which is more than a date and a title and enough to judge whether the gap has changed anything.
What they played on the first one was black metal with corpse paint and a Christian lyric, a combination that made them an awkward proposition in both directions and gave them a reputation out of proportion to a single album. Tophet has stayed in circulation on that strength ever since.
Vision Of God Records are the label behind this one. For a band who have spent two decades as a name people mention rather than a band people hear from, a second record is a bigger event than the running time suggests.