Dominick Keath – “Frozen Tears” (Single Review)

Swedish rock musician Dominick Keath just released his new single “Frozen Tears”. This single, along with a few others, marks Keath’s return to the stage after a nearly thirty year hiatus. Funny enough, the last artist I reviewed also released new material after a long hiatus. For some reason, I love a story like this, seeing people going back to accomplishing their dreams. Let’s get into it.

From a musical perspective, I would say the song is quite good, though nothing out of this world. I can say that I guessed that Keath is from a Nordic country, even prior to reading the biography, just from hearing this song. I wouldn’t say it’s the musical aspect, but rather the way that it’s produced; can’t really put my finger on it, but it just gives off Nordic rock vibes (not that it’s a bad thing, of course). What is interesting is that Keath refers to this song as being inspired by Deep Purple, emphasizing the groove.

To be honest, I don’t hear it, and coming from someone who has listened to a lot of Deep Purple. If there’s a band I could compare this sound to, it would honestly be Dream Theater, though without the virtuosity. “Frozen Tears” just has that late 90’s/early 2000’s feel to it, but not in a way that makes it sound cheesy.

One of the things, however, that disappointed me about the song is the guitar work. Now, in general, it wasn’t bad. Sure, the riff is a tad bit generic, again reminiscing of something I would’ve heard as a small child on VH1. Regardless, it’s a catchy riff that isn’t offensive on the ears and, at the right moment, would get me in the mood to move along to it. That being said, I still feel like more could’ve been done in terms of a solo, especially during the instrumental break.

While we got a solo, it mainly emphasised the lead guitar moving along with the actual melody, which I found to be a little lame. Of course, I’m not going to ask Keath to give me a Steve Vai tier guitar solo (though that would be cool), I would’ve asked for a…how shall I say it…little more “flavor”, if you catch my drift.

I also wanted to mention the lack of keyboards, pretty much for the same reason I mentioned the guitars. Some keys were prominent at the beginning and ending of the song. If that’s all Keath felt like he needed, as the artist, it’s his right. However, I do feel like more could’ve been done than just that, along with some intermittent parts throughout. That instrumental break, once again, probably would’ve been a good place to experiment with.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on the vocals. I would say that this is the weakest point of the song. Now, I don’t think Keath’s voice is terrible by any means. In fact, it sounds like Keath is self-aware of his vocal abilities, as he doesn’t try to go beyond what I believe he is able to. There are no moments of eccentricity on this track, the vocals are as straight forward as you can have it.

However, this doesn’t really apply to the chorus, but I wouldn’t blame Keath for that, as I do feel it was necessary to perform it the way he did. While I did find the performance in those moments to be the weakest out of everything, it still isn’t a terrible listen.

SCORE/Good: I would say that this was “Frozen Tears” is a song that is quite catchy, but had nothing else to offer. Of course, I have kept in mind that this is a song that was made by an artist that just came out of a long hiatus, and I have to say that it is good within those circumstances. Still, improvements can be made, but I’m sure Mr. Keath would have no issues if he puts the effort into his craft. Well done sir, I hope to hear more of your music soon.

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