Frogg – Eclipse

Sky Moon Clark is the musician behind the phenomenon called Frogg. Hailing from New York, Clark creates a high-quality form of technical death metal with this project. Think of the first album of Cynic with a pinch of Voivod, mixed with the sound of Necrophagist and a sauce of Death. Big and important names in the technical death world, but Frogg knows how to incorporate them very well.

Frogg debuted in 2020 with the EP A Reptilian Dystopia. On March 7 of this year, the first full-length album Eclipse was released. Although Mr. Clark wrote most of the material, quite a few musicians contributed to this disc and the writing of the songs is attributed to the entire band. Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist) is responsible for the production, mixing and mastering of the record.

Eclipse opens with Walpurgisnacht and you immediately get your money’s worth if you’re into the progressive and technical sound. A piano intro, followed by a quiet piece of guitar where fifty seconds into the song we are immediately sucked into a piece consisting of jazz fusion, complicated meters, combined with death grunts, melodic guitar parts and a clattering bass. In the second half of this track, the prog lover is treated to a lot of juggling with complex rhythms and playful sound effects.

Wake Up is the first track from the album that was allowed to function as a single. It has been more than a year since the song appeared on YouTube and was already announced as the first of three singles that would appear as a prelude to the debut album. It is the only song on which keyboardist Emma Rae can be heard vocally, which gives this composition an extra dimension. Dexterous solos, pounding riffs and yet again those rhythms that you almost need higher mathematics to understand.

Double Vision Roll on the other hand shows a different side of Frogg. Although the technical aspect does not disappear, metalcore comes forward in this song. It is a bit more direct than the other tracks on the album.

Eclipse is a very strong debut album full of technical, progressive and melodious death metal. If you are a fan of bands like Cynic (first album), Beyond Creation, Obscura, Augury and Necrophagist, it is a no-brainer to buy this album immediately. I was already sold after the first two minutes of Walpurgisnacht. The question is whether Frogg, after such a strong debut, can keep up the level without repeating themselves. Time will tell.

Score:

96/100

Label:

Eigen beheer, 2025

Tracklisting:

  1. Walpurgisnacht
  2. Life Zero
  3. Dandelion
  4. Eclipse I: Blind Bakunawa
  5. Eclipse II: Sickened by Silence
  6. Interspecific Hybrid Species
  7. Wake Up
  8. Sun Stealer
  9. Double Vision Roll
  10. Omni Trigger

Line-up:

  • Sky Moon Clark – Vocals, guitar, bass guitar
  • Will Brown – Drums, percussion

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