Having been on the receiving end of blast overpressure, I can say a couple things with assurity.
First, the blast somehow manages to daze/stun you temporarily. I'm guessing it has something to do with what it does to your head. I don't know if it's from the sudden and intense change of air pressure or not. I didn't hit my head against anything, but the helmet I had was blown off my head from the blast.
Second, I felt "funny" for the next five minutes. I was partially protected by a solid object, but half of my torso (and head) was exposed. I felt as though someone had bounced on my chest a couple three or four times. It didn't *hurt* per se, but I felt as though my heart was beating differently than it normally does. My breathing was also slightly disrupted. I recovered my breath much, much faster than I was able to get rid of the "funny" feeling in my chest.
I could imagine if you were closer to a big enough concussive blast, it could probably have an adverse effect on your heart, and actually cause it to stop. I don't know about freezing your body, but I could see a blast killing a person by stopping their heart.
To my knowledge there are basically three methods, as Tegyrius mentioned, but they're slightly different than what he mentioned. Trauma from impact of the directly propelled object or from flying debris initiated by the object, concussive damage that damages the brain or internal organs, and shock caused by either trauma or blood loss. Considering that some people die from "blood loss" when they lose such a small portion of their blood, but go into shock from the blood loss, shock plays a fairly important and major role in causing death.
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