Cryoshell (album)

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 version featuring an alternative 'clean' lyric was released on 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 on 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.

An earlier version of "Closer to the Truth" – formally used as promotional music in 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 mix 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 later released on February 23, 2014. It was recorded and edited by Hannibal Lang-Jensen with Christian Faber and the advertising agency Advance.[2]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Album Check	[3]
Enemy	(4/5)[4]
Eyes from the Mosh Pit	[5]
Gaffa
Greek Rebels	(7.5/10)[6]
MetalZone	[7]
The Power of Metal	74%[8]
RockHard	(6/10)[9]
Sputnikmusic	[10]
Stiften	[11]

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."[10]

RockHard praised Lorenzen's voice as a "very beautiful complexion" with "incredible dynamics" and the reason why the band does not go completely unnoticed.[9] 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.[12] 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."[11]

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."[7] 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."[3] 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.[4]

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%.[8] 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.[5] 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.[13]

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.[15] 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.[6] 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".[14]