I've been a
Freedom Call fan since the debut, and though the band have delivered albums of varying quality, I never felt like they had lost their initial talent for crafting powerful tunes or their ear for great melodies.
Out Of The Ruins opens the album and take us straight to
Freedom Call land. Operatic vocals, semi-symphonic arrangements, light speed drumming and an almost insanely happy chorus, this is how we know and love
Freedom Call! A song you will be humming after the first spin.
Things speed down a bit with
Thunder God, a midtempo hymn with great hooklines, and a divine melody.
Tears Of Babylon marks the undisputed highlight of the album. This song is simply put fantastic! Majestic choirs and a fantastic buildup, all leading to the all-powerful chorus. As before
Freedom Call shows how much of a difference a tasteful touch of keyboard can make. This song reminds me of the atmosphere in albums like
Stairway To Fairyland and
Eternity, a return to the grandiose and epic sound the band master so well!
If the quality of the rest of the album had been equal to these three songs, it would have been a perfect ten!
Legend Of The Shadowking proves that the band is still capable of making high quality, earhanging Power Metal, like we know and love them for, but the band's hunger for musical experimentation gives the album a varied, but ultimately also uneven and confusing feel.
Things start to go wrong with the boring and out of place
Under The Spell Of The Moon. The song seems an attempt at making something with a darker feel to it, and while I can understand the band's desire to show more sides of their talent, it does not work at all here. What should have probably been mysterious just translates to boring, and what is probably meant to be dark and serious (lower vocals and a slow tempo) make the song seem at a standstill, going in circles without evolving.
Dark Obsession and
The Darkness continues the boredom, especially the latter being hard to stay awake to. The band tries their hand with a darker and perhaps a little gothic sound on these tracks, and it does not work at all.
Kingdom Of Madness marks the albums definite low point. The band tries to experiment with both vocals, song structure and overall sound of the song, making Kingdom Of Madness seem totally out of place on a
Freedom Call album. Chris Bay sings in some kind of Elvis/Johnny Cash impersonating voice, and the verse and chorus doesn't even seem to fit together. The whole thing comes across as a forced experiment - with terrible result.
A Perfect Day ends the album with a positive message, a happy-go-lucky song with a slight folk influence, that somehow reminds me a bit of
Far Away from the
Dimensions album. A song to lift the spirits!
The albums can be divided into the good and bad songs, and nothing really falls in between these two categories. It's rather schizophrenic, actually!
Apart from the three first songs, tracks like
Merlin - Legend Of The Past and
Resurrection Day are excellent songs, with strong melodies and double kick drums in typical
Freedom Call style.
Remember! Is another example of the return to the classic
Freedom Call sound, and this is how I like my Power Metal; fast, catchy and forceful!
The final verdict is that the album is good, but inconsistent. There are some really great - even brilliant - songs to be found on the album, and there are definitely more great songs than not-so-great. On the other hand, some songs just take away from the overall quality of the release. I am left with a somehow confusing and incomplete feeling, as if
Freedom Call tries to follow too many ideas, leading in opposite directions, pulling apart the foundation that should be found at any good album. However, it must be said that the good songs are really good, and gets my hope up for, that the next release will see
Freedom Call return to their once flawless form.
Written by
Nina Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Show all reviews by NinaRatingsNina: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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