Cryoshell (album)

Cryoshell is the self-titled debut studio album by Danish rock band Cryoshell, released June 7, 2010 by Voices Music & Entertainment. Produced by Jacob Hansen, the album was recorded between late 2008 and April 2010 at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark.

Prior to recording, Cryoshell was best known for producing songs for Bionicle, a popular series of construction toys manufactured by Lego, as soundtrack music used in the promotional campaigns of sets released between 2007–2009. Lego was partially responsible for the band's formation. The record was announced for a late 2008 release, but was pushed back numerous times and initially only released in Scandinavia; later receiving international publication by 2012.

Cryoshell received generally positive feedback, with reviewers applauding lead singer Christine Lorentzen's vocal style and the cinematic-esque quality and production of each track. Criticism was put to towards the band's lyrics, saying they flawed in structure, and that they held a similar musical style to that of American rock band Evanescence. 

The album sprawled two singles, "Bye Bye Babylon" and "Creeping in My Soul", released in July and November of 2009, respectively.

Background and recording
Between 2006 and 2009, Cryoshell produced songs for the Lego toy line Bionicle for various pieces of media promoting new sets. The songs, released as free MP3 downloads from the official Bionicle website, proved popular with the Lego community, with one, "Creeping in My Soul", becoming the #1 most downloaded file from the Lego website around its time of release. After releasing the song "Closer to the Truth" under the band name Cryoshell for Bionicle's Mistika wave in October 2008, the group announced plans to record a full-length album.

The entire album was recorded, produced and mixed by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Northern Denmark. Demos were recorded in late 2008, with main production commencing in early 2009 and wrapping in April 2010. The first song to be produced was "Bye Bye Babylon", in time for Bionicle's 2009 marketing campaign. To match the album's production quality, previous Bionicle-used songs "Creeping in My Soul" and "Closer to the Truth", which were originally produced in 2006 and 2008, were re-recorded. There were plans to re-record "Face Me" and "Gravity Hurts" – two other songs also used for Bionicle and originally sung by Danish singer Niels Brinck – with Lorentzen, but they were scrapped. A classical version of "Gravity Hurts" featuring Lorentzen with the Budapest Art Orchestra was ultimately released in 2018.

Composition
Each track on the album is generally a rock song of alternative and symphonic styles, as well as cinematic-like elements that stem from neoclassical metal and power pop. On composing new songs, the band would create a melody on either an acoustic guitar or a piano and build it up from there, with lyrics added later. As a large number of the album's songs were either previously used or considered for Lego's Bionicle campaigns, the lyrics consequently allude to elements from the franchise's storyline.

The album's opening number "Creeping in My Soul" was written by keyboardist Mikkel Maltha with established Danish composer Anthony Lledo in 2006, originally for Lego Bionicle's Barraki marketing campaign. Labelled as a progressive rock song, its lyrics allude to elements from the franchise's 2007 story of taking place deep under the sea and mystery of what the seabed might hold. The following track "Bye Bye Babylon", co-written by all three band members, uniquely features distinctive Eastern musical elements. The songs "Trigger" "Feed" and "Falling" – all co-written by Lorentzen and guitarist Kasper Søderlund – are upbeat, symphonic numbers that feature more power pop and pop rock elements. The two also wrote the nu metal number "Come to My Heaven".

Søderlund co-wrote the melodic track "Murky" with Maltha, the latter of whom penned the soft rock ballad "The Room" and the more symphonic number "Closer to the Truth", the latter of which was originally composed for Bionicle's Mistika campaign, and like "Creeping in My Soul", alludes to story elements from the franchise. The album's closing number "No More Words" was solely composed by Lorentzen. It is a classical ballad that features higher levels of orchestral arrangements with no guitar work; putting emphasis on Lorentzen's vocals.

Promotion
Cryoshell released the digital EP Creeping in My Soul on January 5, 2010; containing five completed songs from the album as a teaser for it.

On a video blog uploaded May 30, 2010 onto Cryoshell's official YouTube channel, Lorentzen stated that due of the album's limited release to Denmark and because of ongoing support from fans worldwide, the band were prepared to release the songs "Feed" and "The Room" from the album for free on June 7 to fans who added them as their friend on YouTube before that date, while they worked on securing a global distribution agreement for the whole album.

In June 2010, the band were interviewed on the Danish TV talk show The Lounge and performed an acoustic version of their track "Trigger".

Singles
The album's lead single "Bye Bye Babylon" was released July 19, 2009, with its music video premiering on Cryoshell's official website the following August. A lyric-tweaked version was released August 27, 2009 as a free MP3 download from the official Bionicle website, serving as key promotional music for the toy line's Glatorian and Glatorian Legends sets of that year, as well as the official soundtrack to the film Bionicle: The Legend Reborn. A second music video utilizing this version premiered August 31, 2009.

"Creeping in My Soul" was released as the album's second single on November 29, 2009. Its music video premiered on Cryoshell's official YouTube channel on April 19, 2010. An earlier take of the song was used in the promotional campaign of Bionicle's Barraki toy wave of 2007, released as a free MP3 download from the official Bionicle website in March that year, where it became the #1 most requested download from the server.

Other songs
An earlier version of "Closer to the Truth" – used as the promotional music for advertising Bionicle's Mistika toy wave – was released as a free download from the official Bionicle website on October 1, 2008, a music video followed its release on October 8. The video was re-released on January 7, 2010 onto Cryoshell's official YouTube channel with the re-recorded version of the song dubbed over it.

A video of the band rehearsing an acoustic version of "No More Words" was filmed in Copenhagen, Denmark in late 2013 and released February 23, 2014. It was recorded and edited by Hannibal Lang-Jensen with Christian Faber and the advertising agency Advance.

Release
Originally announced for a late 2008 release, the album was later postponed to early 2009. When the band eventually spent the majority of the year recording new material, they moved the release to the fall of 2009, pushing it back further to January 30, 2010 when recording sessions were still ongoing, and again when that date passed.

Cryoshell was later set an official release date of June 7, 2010, but due to difficulties in securing a worldwide release, it was initially only published in Scandinavia; self-released under the band's label name Cryoshell I/S with Voices Music & Entertainment (VME). Cryoshell received later publication in other countries through different record labels between 2011–2012, although physical CD copies are hard to obtain.

The band later announced that their debut would be re-issued globally under Greek record label The Leaders with two new bonus tracks – "Breakout" (singly released December 2012) and a remix of "Gravity Hurts" – both of which feature Danish singer Tine Midtgaard filling in for Lorentzen while she was on maternity leave. However, a release date has not been confirmed and the release is thought to have been scrapped.

Reception

Original release

The original release of the album has been met with generally positive reviews from music critics. Sputnikmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and compared Cryoshell's sound to bands Evanescence, Within Temptation and Linkin Park. They praised lead singer Christine Lorentzen's vocal talents "[soaring] above the instrument mixes," especially on the tracks "Trigger" and "Falling", and how the band "has bigger things in mind than mere promotional songs" and that "String synthesizers, broken chords played on the piano, and driving background electric guitars set an eerie yet powerful mood throughout the album." They however felt that the group lacked lyrically, saying "they range from weak attempts at poetry to straightforward and radio-ready."

RockHard praised Lorenzen's voice as a "very beautiful complexion" with "incredible dynamics" and the reason why the band does not go completely unnoticed. Gaffa gave a mixed review' calling Cryoshell "the Danish equivalent of Evanescence" and classifying them as product placement due to their history with working with Lego. However, they praised the production of producer Jacob Hansen for "getting much out of a small budget" and gave the album 3 out of 6 stars. Stiften described the album as "Heavy and lumbering pathos rock on a bed of melodic keyboard surfaces and strings" calling it "Not a bad offer... [but] does nothing new under the sun relative to the template-band Evanescence who have to suffer the indignity of seeing the shame-plagiarized on Cryoshell's debut."

Danish metal music blog MetalZone called the band "A copy of Evanescence," adding "It's fine to be inspired by a band, but to make a clone of the band is perhaps excessive." They however gave the album 4 out of 6 stars." German music blog Album Check were more positive, giving the album 9 out of 10 stars and describing it as "cinemascope rock," going on to complementing the band as "bursting with passion with good hooks and melodious tunes, the sound of Cryoshell has its own style," with Lorentzen "not only [having] a pretty face, but a lot to offer musically." Enemy, another German music blog, defined Cryoshell as a "darkly symphonic Danish export" and their sound as "Classic dark and foggy converts the trio in their sound-scape" and "a mixture of orchestral elements, piano melodies, coupled with electronic parts and a rocking female voice," adding that the track "'Creeping in My Soul' carries a refrain," giving the album an overall rating of 4 out of 5.

The Power of Metal described the album's sound as "Classic rock spiced up with some more modern influences," and applauded Lorentzen as a "figurehead" and "vital part" of the band who helps to "[Create] a sound that contains moods that are hard, raw, yet fragile and classical." They also praised Hansen's production that gave the band "A balanced and raw rock sound that fit their style very well" that provides the album "Many fine moments and enough catchy tunes to give them a solid foundation for bigger things" and giving Cryoshell an overall rating of 74%. Eyes from the Mosh Pit stated the album has "slick riffs, pounding drums and very dramatic almost end of the world themed lyrics," the tracks with stringed compositions had "a apocalyptic feel" and praised "Bye Bye Babylon" and "Closer to the Truth" as stand out songs in terms of their orchestral arrangements as "they add a film score-like quality to [the tracks]," and gave the album a total of 7 out of 10 stars. Rocktopia were also positive, declaring that all the songs were "full of catchiness" and "equally contagious" and singled out "Bye Bye Babylon" as the best song on the album.

Reissue

The unreleased reissue of Cryoshell has been met to critical acclaim. RavenHeart Music gave the album a perfect 10 out of 10 score, calling it "one of the best debuts for years" and that Cryoshell "have the songs, the sound and the look and could make the USA their own with this record alone" while also praising Lorenzten's vocals as "magnificent" with contrasts to Cristina Scabbia and Shania Twain. Greek Rebels also praised Lorentzen's vocals and how the songs "stick in the mind with catchy melodies." They described the bonus songs as "slightly more diversified and dynamic," making the listener want to replay them repeatedly, giving the album a ranking of 7.5 out of 10. The Power of Metal also reviewed the reissue and gestured the album's sound as "more grown-up" and "diversified and universal" in comparison to Evanescence's sound. They also commented on how Cryoshell's music is not "designed to catch the listener with hook over hook", but rather "lets [them] discover the beauty of their music".

Track listing

Notes
Tracks 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 also appear on the EP Creeping in My Soul.
"Bye Bye Babylon" is shortened on its single release.

Personnel

Band
 Christine Lorentzen – Lead vocals
 Kasper Søderlund – Guitars, bass guitar, additional keys
 Mikkel Maltha – Piano, keyboard, orchestral arrangements, additional vocals 
 Jakob Gundel – Drums

Production
 Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen and Cryoshell
 Recorded at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark
 Photography and artwork: Christian Faber
 Management: KNOKL

Special thanks
 Advance
 Eddie Simonsen
 Jeppe Fannesback
 Charlotte Rvéde Jensen
 Thomas Nielsen
 Trine Schou
 Jacob Mansen
 Anthony Lledo
 Zentropa Film
 Minerva Film
 Peter Jhorth
 Andres Wellike
 Lalo Magnus
 Anna August
 Lisbeth Bech
 Søren Bendz

Release history

References

Category:2010 debut albums
Category:Cryoshell albums
Category:Albums produced by Jacob Hansen