Hard 20 |
Freedom Call"Circle Of Life" Freedom Call return, playing their usual style of melodic power metal in the vein of Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, or Rhapsody (Gamma Ray's Dan Zimmermann, in fact, plays drums in FC). The music puts a lot of emphasis on melody and keyboards are used, but not over-abundantly. Singer Chris Bay (who also plays guitar) sounds similar to Geoff Tate, Kai Hansen, and Fabio Leone. There are driving metal tunes in the style of Gamma Ray, like "Hunting High And Low", "Kings And Queens", "High Enough", "Starchild", and "Carry On", which is somewhat similar to the Manowar song of the same name, with its anthemic, upbeat chorus. Opener "Mother Earth" starts off with a high speed riff, but then they put on the brakes, and it becomes a more mid paced tune. "Starlight" is a more pop flavored, keyboard oriented song, where the guitars take a back seat. "Hero Nation" and "The Eternal Flame" are also melodic songs but have heavy, beefy riffs, and cry out for a change in the world. "Rhythm Of Life" has a slightly harder edge, and the album closes with the title track, an epic ballad with a lot of classical influence, including piano, strings, classical guitar, and chanting, as well as more of the usual metal riffing. Freedom Call are very good at what they do, even if they're not really breaking any new ground. They're talented, they can play, and the can really crank out them riffs! Good enough in my book! |