Freedom Call, German power metal band, have always represented a specific branch of power metal, known as 'happy metal'. The majority of the 2014 album, 'Beyond', takes this idea and transforms it into a full-forced, non-stop collection of some of Freedom Call's best ever 'happy metal' material. But what drew my attention so more powerfully than the others, was the title song, 'Beyond'.
'Beyond' is the most concentrated and diverse song I have ever experienced, and a fantastic use of almost eight minutes. Never before have I listened to a composition that features so many different power metal branches - the soft bridge, the epic chorus, the sly string section & the precisely written verses. Perhaps it's the voice of Chris Bay that lured me, or maybe just the title itself. But 'Beyond' is something only Freedom Call could write and something only Chris Bay could sing; an eccentrically happy metal symphony.
And to deem this composition a symphony couldn't be more appropriate nor adequate. The vast collaboration of orchestral instruments that still hold firmly that power metal crunch - something so difficult to perfect, and I understand Freedom Call has done just that. But especially, I can't help the urge to head bang during that fine chorus.
Freedom Call have demonstrated the effectiveness and power that can be enforced behind even the most simple melodic pattern. Words fail me in the description of this piece, I can't transit the raw emotion of it into a review. A definite recommendation for ANY power metal/hard rock fans, this is a must! From perhaps the most positive, genuinely happy, and thrilling power metal band to ever walk the Earth, the emotion of such can be discovered, observed and explored in this sole happy metal symphony.
Now go and find out for yourself, what I'm truly speaking of ..
I was left feeling satisfied with Freedom Call’s work throughout “Land of the Crimson Dawn.” I had been avoiding the band like the plague after sitting through “Dimensions,” which hadn’t proved to be a worthy heir of Freedom Call’s high-quality early opuses; it was great to hear the group back on its feet. Chris Bay and his army of Prozac-fueled troops continue to soar on the upward swing throughout “Beyond,” which, I’m proud to say, is better than “Land of the Crimson Dawn” and puts up a decent case to be placed next to Freedom Call’s prime releases. Not to imply the record is a groundbreaking masterpiece, but it’s an above-average release from Germany’s happy metal heralds who are back to deliver an upbeat, kick-the-world-in-the-chin attitude and some of the finest material they’ve showcased since the band’s early days.
There isn’t much going on here that is proudly throwing Freedom Call beyond the group’s musical norm, but then again Freedom Call needed to stick to its strengths rather than tamper with an acceptable sound by adding children’s choirs or layers of overly-sweetened keyboards. “Beyond” knows what it is and what it wants, going for the big choruses and the huge power metal riffs and melodies glazed over what is pretty much the archetypal form of Freedom Call. The main lure is that some of the anthems are far more memorable than even the bulk of “Land of the Crimson Dawn,” which was no blunder. The songs are more riff-driven and punchy but do not sacrifice the group’s signature for the extra metal elements.
The first four numbers—”Union of the Strong” through “Come on Home”—are some of the finest Freedom Call tracks since “Eternity.” Yeah, they’re sort of recycling the melodies and ideas that they’ve used before, but they do so in a way that adds a lot of depth and quality. “Beyond” hits its climax with the eight-minute title track, which makes excellent use of keyboards and epic structures, making it one of Freedom Call’s finest anthems of all time, perhaps. A few of the album’s songs can be tossed out, though; it doesn’t need fourteen tracks, some of which fall noticeably short in terms of quality and consistency—a spacious portion of “Beyond” seems daft after busting a nut five numbers in.
But many of the record’s lesser moments are made at least passible by Chris Bay’s uplifting vocals and Freedom Call’s improved texture, showing the band acting more stimulating and involved than several of its mid-career gaffes. The rhythm section is sort of lacking, but the songwriting has improved enormously and the guitar sections produce a fine number of riffs and leads worth noting. “Beyond” is the closest thing to a Freedom Call masterpiece since “Eternity,” and while not perfect, it holds enough merit to make itself a consistent, brazen slab of power metal. The performances, songwriting, sound quality, and other vital facets of the musical experience are refined but undeniably marked by the Freedom Call stamp. Credit is earned when credit is due; “Beyond” isn’t too shabby.
This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com
I. Fucking. Love. This. Band.
They haven't put a foot out of line since their eponymous debut back in 1999, and now they return to us all these years later (even though they never really stopped) with another seminal release. I could write for pages and pages about the ins and outs of Chris Bay's brainchild, all the way from their beginnings as a Gamma Ray spin-off in '98. But let's focus on the matter at hand - 2014's epic "Beyond".
Freedom Call brand themselves 'German Happy Metal' - and this album shows off that self-branding in huge neon lights. This might just be the happiest metal album ever written. If the lyrics don't convince you that you're dealing with the happiest band in the world, then the sticky-sweet melodies and triumphant choruses will. This atmosphere of positivity scares away plenty of metalheads - especially those who feel that Cryptopsy's "Unspoken King" was getting 'a little soft' for them. But just take one look at the promotional band photo - how can you resist those smiles? It's genuine joy combined with some of the catchiest and highest quality melodic power metal ever written.
With the heralding call of "Jump! And carry on!" you are thrust into the magical world of "Beyond". Opening track "Union of the Strong" is the perfect album starter. Its infectious chorus, epic middle section, and beautiful choral vocals are the ideal way to grab any listener's attention. The choral vocals, as is usual for a Freedom Call release, are the highlight of the album. They're perfectly mixed, blend perfectly with the lead vocals & keyboards, and use interesting harmonies which stop 'Beyond' from falling into the pit of predictability.
At this point, I'd like you to take note of how often I'm using the word 'perfect'.
As Chris Bay said in an interview leading up to the release of 'Beyond': "Albums are boring if they are made up of one colour". Since their 2005 release 'The Circle of Life', Freedom Call have been experimenting with adding their hard rock and glam influences into their euro-power metal timbre. The experimentation is not as strong as on 'Legend of the Shadowking' or 'Land of the Crimson Dawn', but it certainly exists in the form of the oddly-titled "Dance off the Devil", and the synth-driven "In The Rhythm of Light". These two tracks stick out like sore-thumbs, veering away from the traditional power metal approach. I may be the only Freedom Call fan who welcomes their musical exploration! It separates them from the endless Helloween clones, gives them their own identity, and creates a more interesting listen.
Every single song on 'Beyond' is a highlight, but I will attempt to pick out my favourites. "Knights of Taragon" hearkens back to the days of "Stairway to Fairyland", with its classically-inspired choral melodies and lyrics taken right out of fan-favourite "We Are One". "Come On Home" is the "Perfect Day" or "Far Away" of this album - a high-energy singalong all about the joys of being Freedom Call! "Edge of the Ocean" feels like it came right out of "Crystal Empire" with its irresistable chorus and a nice chugging riff in the middle section. "Journey Into Wonderland" is THE happiest song the band have written. Period. And "Beyond Eternity" is catchier than the plague. But two songs in particular deserve their own paragraph..
Track 11, "Paladin", is quite an anomaly in Freedom Call's catalogue. The melodies are completely different to anything the band has written before. The beat chosen by Ramy Ali in the chorus is very rarely used in power metal, and it creates a triumphant, yet somehow melancholic atmosphere. Truly beautiful.
But the crowning achievement on this 2014 release is the epic title-track. Epic is the right word for it. Clocking in at almost 8 minutes (their longest full-length album song yet!) it reaches, and almost surpasses, the scope of their 2001 classic "The Quest". With a grand scale, a hugely powerful chorus, chugging headbang-worthy sections, and one of the best guitar solos Lars has ever cranked out - this could well be the greatest song in Freedom Call's entire arsenal.
I'd better stop rambling and let you listen to this masterpiece yourself. I cannot praise it enough. The new line-up has proved to work wonders, and long may they continue - the kings of German Happy Metal!
"Stand tall, as ghosts in the sky!"
Let there be no ambiguity, the author of this review is a shameless power metal junkie who's initial plunge into the style began with Helloween and Gamma Ray back in that abyssal period of musical mediocrity that was the late 1990s. In keeping with this, one of my ongoing love affairs is with a band that, at their founding, embodied all the greatest elements of both bands at their peak in one hyper-optimistic package. It is in keeping with the conventional wisdom of most fans of said Nuremberg powerhouse that the period between 1999 and 2002 was their zenith, followed by a period of lesser efforts, and while I'm wont to be more forgiving of their middle material than some, I too missed the glory days when the tale of Taragon was the lyrical feature that drove every album.
With the release of Beyond, the seemingly forgotten days when high fantasy and science fiction oriented concept albums were brought back for this band, and with it much of the original sound that largely fell by the wayside in favor of experimentation. Granted, it's not quite a full out return in line with all epic, all the time character of Stairway To Fairyland, Crystal Empire or Eternity, but it definitely takes most of its cues from the latter two albums than otherwise. Musically, it occasionally flirts with outright self-plagiarism, but the updated production practices and occasional nuances in musicianship that come with a different lead guitarist and drummer on display keep it fresh while making a sorely needed revisiting of former glory.
At its inception, this album makes little secret of which creative well it's drawing from. The first eight songs are all but a perfect mixture of the speed happy character of Eternity meshed with the anthem-driven, catchy fanfare of Crystal Empire. In particular, “Union Of The Strong, “Knights Of Taragon” and “Heart Of A Warrior” all but kick the listener into a fit of Déjà vu that recalls how this band's much lauded third album began. Familiar melodies are reworked a bit and the lead guitar work of Lars Rettkowitz is a bit more mellow and methodical than Sascha Gershow's technical work, but the speed and majestic consonance of each moment begs for a fist to the sky.
As things progress, the band shows the versatility of their older days with a more varied assortment of songs, mostly recalling what went into the iconic Crystal Empire. There's an obligatory upper mid-tempo rocker with a pop/punk meets arena celebration feel in “Come On Home” that sounds dangerously close to “Farewell” off the same 2001 Freedom Call opus, whereas some of the middle songs shift back and forth between more down tempo marches to battle and some more high flying fun. But the outright pinnacle of the stylistic throwback in progress is the long title song “Beyond”, which is all but a perfect mirror reflection of “The Quest”, arguably the deepest and most impressive song ever to come out of this band. It differs a bit in that there's more of a speed factor in play at times, but the varied musical story told listens like an expected and welcome sequel to the 2001 original.
However, as stated previously, this album isn't quite a full return to their old sound, and comes with some remnants of the more experimental era that preceded this album. Leading off this collection of songs and making a massive leap of a style change in the process is “Rhythm Of Light”, which has a bit more of a grooving, heavy character similar to the similarly titled “The Rhythm Of Life”, and occasionally lands in Van Halen territory with a keyboard sound right out of 1984. Granted, this version of the song proves to be much better as it's a bit less repetitive and guitar oriented, but it's a far cry from the eight songs before it. Much of what rounds off the listen is a collection of slightly better versions of ideas kicked around on Dimensions and Legend Of The Shadowking, resulting in an album that tapers off a bit at the end, but largely stays strong in spite of itself.
While this falls a tiny bit short of a full return to form, it is a much needed one and definitely bodes well for what may come from this band in the next couple years. The return of bassist Ilker Ersin has definitely had an impact on the direction of things, and newly recruited drummer Ramy Ali of Iron Mask fame manages to meld into the shoes of departed co-founder Dan Zimmerman quite effectively. Those who had hoped for a strong return will definitely find one here, though it doesn't quite manage to kick Stairway To Fairyland and Eternity off their historic perches. The eyes of the world might look into the world of Taragon a bit more dimly at first, but it's shining horizons are definitely returning to focus.
Originally submitted to (The Metal Observer) on March 15, 2014.
I first heard Freedom Call back in the early part of the previous decade when I was on a huge power metal kick with their 2002 album Eternity. This German band is known for having been founded by former Gamma Ray and Iron Savior drummer Dan Zimmermann and current Helloween guitarist Sascha Gerstner. They play your typical Euro power metal a la Helloween, Gamma Ray, Rhapsody, etc. but with less symphonics than the latter. After their 2002 album Eternity they seemed to have had a crisis in songwriting and just couldn't get their shit together to release a memorable album. They seemed to have redeemed themselves with their 2012 album Land of the Crimson Dawn. So now we have their eighth full length, Beyond. Were they able to keep the momentum going? Actually they were but the burning question is whether or not they were able to equal or top Eternity and the answer is....almost.
The album starts off really strong with the opener "Union of the Strong." This is your typical song of the genre with fast double bass, melodic verses and catchy choruses. Listening to this song you get the feeling that they have actually topped the album that actually set the bar for them. The song has great hooks and is catchy. The guitar work is top notch, which is to be expected of the genre. There really isn't a proper solo on this song but some harmonized classical scales but that doesn't take away from the song. As you go further into the album you feel that this will be their best album to date. Songs like "Knights of Taragon" and "Heart of a Warrior" keep it going with some really good power metal with emphasis on the power. But this a double edged sword because immediately following is the first major chunk of cheese, "Come on Home". I'm not sure if they were going for some sort of a "Rise and Fall" thing with overly happy melody but it just doesn't work. And the cheesy "metal" lyrics make it even more absurd. Some may like this song but I think that it seriously took away from the flow of the album. There are two more songs that just don't belong, "Rhythm of Light" and "Dance Off the Devil". Some may like these poppy songs but I think they detract from the flow of this otherwise killer metal album with the latter being not as bad but is still one that I will forever skip. Luckily songs like the title track, "Among the Shadows", Edge of the Ocean, Journey Into Wonderland, and the closer "Beyond Eternity" redeem the album with good catchy metal songs.
So the final result is that this album falls short of being as good as Eternity but better than Land of the Crimson Dawn. It's a shame that they seem to not be able to write a consistent album because when these guys are on, they are fucking ON! This is not a bad album but they can, and have done, much better. Hopefully this is just another step for this band to match the quality of their previous offerings.
http://elitistmetalhead.blogspot.com/
The first three Freedom Call albums were all solid masterpieces of melodic power metal, Eternity being one of my favorite albums ever recorded. But after those, Freedom Call for some reason went into kind of a mediocre state, with their next album The Circle Of Life not even being close to the greatness previously conceived. Dimensions and Legend Of The Shadowking were stepping lightly in the right direction again, and Land Of The Crimson Dawn surprised me as it was actually pretty good and a big step in the right direction. Then, out of nowhere comes this album and completely blows the past four albums out of the water.
First of all, just look at the album cover. If you've seen past Freedom Call artworks, you notice they mostly focus on one color pattern per album, Eternity being dark-green, Shadowking being blue and Crimson Dawn being well... crimson. But this album artwork is in my opinion the best they've ever had, it's simply beautiful to look at with its vast color palette. I don't even know what it's supposed to be, but hey. It's power metal, it's supposed to be cheesy and cool, and that's exactly what it is. But does the artwork's greatness match the actual music?
Yes, yes, YES it does! Not only does this album has some of the catchiest songs the band has ever written, I remember almost every single song clearly just from listening to the album once. This was something the earlier albums had but the past four albums lacked. They had their fair share of catchy songs, but the albums didn't achieve perfect catchiness all the way through. This one does by storm. Even my girlfriend who doesn't often listen to Power Metal started to hum the lyrics to Union Of The Strong the second time the chorus came along.
The songs are the same kind of Freedom Call songs you know and love, with the same catchy melodies and cheesy lyrics. If that's not your thing, you're probably not even a fan of the band and you shouldn't even be reading this, but if you ARE a Freedom Call fan, you're definitely gonna love the songs. I mean, you've got your fast-paced power metal songs like Tears Of Taragon, Heart Of A Warrior and Edge Of The Ocean, and the extremely happy and uplifting songs like Come On Home, Journey Into Wonderland and Follow Your Heart, and of course what has become somewhat of a tradition, the album ends with an uplifting happy outro song with bagpipes, Beyond Eternity. The songs I haven't mentioned aren't bad by any means, and I wouldn't call them filler either because believe me, they still jump on your mind faster than you can jump to their beat.
I strongly feel this is the band's best effort since Eternity, and probably ties for my personal favorite album by them. After Crimson Dawn was released, the drummer and the bassist left the band, and they got some pretty damn good replacements. Lineup changes is nothing new to Freedom Call, but I was pleasantly surprised to see their original bassist Ilker Ersin back in the band. I think this may have affected the song writing, as they haven't written anything this good since he left the band. It may be a coincidence since I don't know exactly who writes all the songs or if it's always collaborate efforts or whatever, but having him back must have had some positive influence on the band because like I said, they haven't sounded this happy in quite a few years.
The only fault I can find with this album is strictly a matter of opinion. Some people may think this is "just more of the same", and I wouldn't blame them, because it is more of the same. The difference is that it's more of the same, but taking away the dull and boring and throwing in more happy and uplifting, and multiplying the number of memorable songs by a lot. Cause that's another great thing, the album's almost an hour long, and that's not even counting the second CD of the limited edition (although that's just unplugged versions of older songs, but still). If you're a fan of Freedom Call or catchy melodies in power metal in general, then I recommend this without a doubt, because the chances are very high that you won't be disappointed.