© Topper Komm
Australian-Icelandic sound designer and producer Ben Frost arrived on the music scene in relatively subdued fashion with the ambient glisten of his guitar-oriented LP Steel Wound in 2003. However, it wasn’t long before his fascination with black metal began to blister and crackle through visceral, ear-churning albums such as Theory of Machines and the suitably titled By the Throat. Widening his palette via increasing use of electronics on subsequent releases, Frost instinctively ventured into the world of sound design for TV, theatre and video games.
Yet despite Frost’s dalliances into soundtrack creation, his attraction to guitar has never wavered. Following a conversation with Mute boss Daniel Miller, he fell upon the idea of recontextualising familiar tropes from the metal genre and enlisted guitarist Greg Kubacki from progressive metal band Car Bomb to help realise his vision. Frost’s latest album, Scope Neglect, is as captivating as it is groundbreaking, recalibrating our understanding of metal music via a vapour trail of remorseless, grinding riffs and decaying particles of sound.