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Released on 26th August 1991 on Rebel
Records on LP / MC / CD formats. As
discussed, UK musical
tastes were changing. Any audience left wanting a more guitar
driven style of music now also had the American Grunge invasion to
satisfy their hunger, further reducing the audience for the
remaining Goth bands moving into the 90's. At this point the Rose has
all but disappeared from the UK music scene, and between 1991 /
92
I've yet to track down a single gig played on UK soil.
Following the success of "String 'A' Beads", and the
changing tastes in the UK, the band seem play exclusively in
Europe. "I.C.E." was very much a product for that audience. Paul also notes by the
stage they came to record "I.C.E." the band had been going for some
7 years. The income from the music alone was never going to be
enough to earn a full time living from, so the band members had
growing interests outside of the band, leading to "I.C.E."
being
recorded during the night shift. I think this lack of focus
and commitment is evident in the final product, the record lacking
that enthusiastic feel of a band passionately throwing everything
they have into it. The opening track
"Ride The Storm" launches the album with great
expectation, being high tempo and catchy. "Two Time Baby"
follows, and is a steady if not spectacular. Here we see the
changing style in line with the times. Paul's guitar playing is
much more rhythmic and broken up compared to the jangly Goth riffs
of the 1980's and Andy is using a disco style hi hat pattern on
the verses. Here could be the root of the bands problem to keep up
the changing trends. The music was adapting, but Phil's baritone
vocal style wasn't adaptable enough to carry these poppier, groove
driven tracks. "I Love the Ice"
is formed of a catchy guitar line, but again Phil struggles to
carry the tune. "Destination
Nowhere" somewhat brings Phil back to his comfort zone, being
much more suited to his voice, and is a passable track. "The Garden"
follows and is again is a catchy and progressive tune, but doesn't
quite hit the sweet spot. "Lost The Chance"
steps it up a gear and is a straight ahead fast and simple rock
out. "Wall of Pain" is
one of Phil’s better performances on the album. The production
on this sounds a little cold, the drums in particular being very
tinny, but it's a decent enough track. "Everything's OK"
is a slow builder, but the vocal and lyric just simply don't fit
the track and the end product is awful. The album closes with
"Take All My Money" which is quite atmospheric, but
ultimately as poor as "Everything's OK". In summary I feel the album
highlights a band coming to a point of disintegration. A lack of
preparation and focus during the writing and recording is
blindingly obvious. It would certainly seem Phil wrote the lyrics
and laid down the vocals separately to the recording of the
backing tracks as often tracks feel disjointed, with the lyrics
fitting awkwardly around the song structures. You can see why Paul said
that he had enough and quit the band at that point because the
band were coasting at a certain level. Doing enough to sell a few
records and secure small / medium size European venue tours, but
not really putting all they had into becoming bigger and better,
and Paul still had that desire to not just "play" at it. In summary "I.C.E."
is a
disappointing final chapter in the career of the band, because it
just doesn't compare to the earlier body of work the band
produced, however all good things come to an end at some
point...it is no surprise that at the same time the Rose finally
imploded so did many of their remaining Leeds peers like Salvation
and Ghost Dance.
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