It’s hard to know what to say about Freedom Call that hasn’t already been said in the many reviews written over the years. Self-confessed purveyors of ‘Happy Metal’, they are excellent at what they do. They don’t veer too far from their chosen path, they give their fans what they want and if they gain some new ones then that’s fine by them. I was amazed when I realized it had been 15 whole years since I thoroughly enjoyed their debut, having followed main-man Chris Bay from his previous band Moon Doc. And really, nothing sound-wise has particularly changed in that time…but why should it? Freedom Call don’t want to break new boundaries, they don’t want to dabble in opposing styles, they just want to make people smile and spread a little happiness. And at this, they are unrivalled.
As I said, their style has changed little over the years – they have a winning formula – musicians come and go (nice to see Ilker Ersin – also formerly of Moon Doc and a founder Freedom Call member making a return on bass for this one!), they add their own splashes of inspiration and Chris Bay incorporates it into the Freedom Call sound. But I realize it’s not a given that everyone reading this will be familiar with that Freedom Call Sound – so what is it? It’s up-tempo Power Metal – think Gamma Ray, Primal Fear, Helloween and Iron Savior…but even more uplifting and up-beat. To be even more specific, years ago a friend of mine described Freedom Call as playing “National Anthems on speed”. It’s true y’know, try it – pick a couple like, say…’Advance Australia Fair’ and ‘O Canada’ for instance, play them twice as fast with double-kick drumming, add bass and guitar to match…got it? THAT’S Freedom Call! Haha. And doesn’t it make you smile? You can even do it with the UK’s own misery-fest of ‘God Save the Queen’, though you have to triple the time and change the snare accents (I’ve put WAY too much thought into this…like how I’d rather hear someone like Electric Wizard slow it down and have a bash at it…) but it works. ‘I Vow To Thee My Country’ and ‘Jerusalem’ work way better, but I transgress…
The songs ironically become almost irrelevant (though the title track particularly stands out as an epic that is one of their best songs to date), because I think a Freedom Call album is really about an overall optimistic mood. To pick out individual songs would be to dissect the album, to point out influences (that are mostly previous Freedom Call Songs) and analyse it. This rather spoils how I feel the band want to be heard. If a track, or parts of it leap out then that’s great but just let it flow. Smile and be happy etc.
There is SO much misery in the world – hey there’s a shit-load of it right here on Ave Noctum (and I’ve reviewed some of it myself)! And yes, Freedom Call aren’t going to appeal to the majority of Black/Death/Doom etc fans (though I know Freedom Call are a secret ‘guilty pleasure’ of some of you!!) but that’s fine. Freedom Call are what they are. They are a Power Metal ray of cheesy, catchy, melodic sunshine that I admit can really piss you off if you are not in the right mood – like a friend insisting you cheer up all the time when you don’t feel like it (“Go on, give us a smile…” “Just Sod Off and leave me alone!” …you know the sort…). But other times they can be just what you need to brighten the day. Now if you don’t mind, they have a new puppy in the house over the road and I simply must go for a cuddle…there might be a nice rom-com on TV later…I could make fresh lemonade…oooh look a butterfly….
(8/10 – Andy “It’s all so nice” Barker)
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