Freedom Call – Master of Light

After just 2 years, the consistently prolific Freedom Call has returned with another record. Upon its unveiling, the cover art of “Master of Light” definitely stood out amongst the rest of the band’s artwork. At the end of the day, the focus should always be on the music, and make no mistake: “Master of Light” is very consistent with Freedom Call’s output to date. This album continues along the path set by “Beyond”; in other words, it is more similar to the band’s earlier work than their mid-era material (though the change in the band’s sound has always been severely overstated, and some of their best work even came between 2005-2012).

The band chose the single from this album wisely, as “Hammer of the Gods” is far and away the strongest track. It isn’t a high-speed blazer, but instead a somewhat upbeat anthemic track, complete with an easy to sing along to chorus. This song can stand up against anything else in the band’s catalogue. Unfortunately, the same can’t quite be said for the rest of the album. There are some unique standouts, like the almost-Celtic approach of “A World Beyond”, the absurdly heavy “Ghost Ballet”, and the classic excessively happy closing song “High Up”. Despite that, however, this feels like a very standard Freedom Call album. Of course, the worst Freedom Call record is better than most other band’s best work, but there aren’t even a handful of songs on this album that I would regularly revisit. The melodies are predictable, but the real problem is that they just aren’t overly memorable. 

That doesn’t mean fans will be disappointed. If you need a dose of overly cheesy power metal, driven by Chris Bay’s fantastical vocals and mystic themes, “Master of Light” gets the job done. The song that kicks off the record, “Metal Is For Everyone”, is a perfect summation of the band’s attitude and general sound. Freedom Call is among the most accessible of metal bands due to their positive attitudes and fun, light-hearted music. And that’s really why you can’t even be disappointed with this: the band gave it a really good effort and the outcome is true to their sound. It just isn’t as enjoyable as what they’ve done in the past. Nevertheless, this album is an essential purchase for fans, and I eagerly await my pre-ordered copy in the mail despite it not living up to its predecessor!

Be sure to check out and like Freedom Call on Facebook!

Highlights

"Hammer of The Gods"

"A World Beyond"

"Master of Light"

Final Rating

3.8/5 or 76%. 

Written by Scott

Freedom Call Interview

This next interview is with another one of my favourite bands: Freedom Call. Their brand of incredibly happy power metal is beyond infectious, and given that the band is in the studio now, I thought it would be a good time to reach out and get some insight on the new record (and a few other topics). Huge thanks to Chris Bay for the interview!

Skull Fracturing Metal (SFM): Hello Freedom Call! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview! You guys are in the studio working on a new album right now. Do you think this album will be similar to “Beyond”, or are you planning on doing something a little different?

Chris Bay: Hey, Skull Fracturing Metal, yeah, we're still in the recording process of our new upcoming studio album...which will become amazing ;) The new “masterpiece” will include the traditional typical Freedom Call Happy Metal Style with lots of catchy chorus lines and hymn like arrangements, but we also will surprise the listeners with new paths of creation. We're always feeling free and are open minded for new influences while composing and arranging.

SFM: I read in a previous interview that “Beyond” was the first Freedom Call album where every member participated in the songwriting. Was that the case again for the new album?

Chris: That definitely felt great when all members are involved in the songwriting process. We continued this way and now we created an for all members born “Baby”, which needed a bit more time than 9 months ;)

There is growing up a special atmosphere in the band's mind, another inspiration in the studio is arising if all musicians are pulling together..

SFM: Do you have any details on when the album will be released?

Chris: First idea was to produce straight as possible and have an quick release...but then the heart of the musician was beating stronger than the business ;)

So, we found out many very cool sounds and detailed melodies, that we're still recording the big choirs and rounding out the new opus.

We don't wanna be pressed for time, so the release is planned for end of this year 2016.

SFM: The last 3 Freedom Call albums all had 14 songs each, whereas the earlier ones had 10-12 songs. Are you finding it easier to write songs as time goes on?

Chris: I don't want to focus on the amount of songs of an album...more worth is the quality of songs. How many songs...it's changing from album to album. Some of our songs do not need so much time to produce, because of for example less keyboard arrangements or vocal tracks, for another song I'm sticking for months to create a cool classical string arrangement...

But I promise, that always you will find enough music on every Freedom Call album to make you feel happy ;)

SFM: A lot of Freedom Call fans that I talk with are big fans of the first 3 albums and the new one. Personally, my favourite has always been “The Circle of Life”, which doesn’t seem to be as popular of an opinion. Are there any albums or songs you guys have done that you think are overlooked by fans?

Chris: O yes, to each his own...the taste of music is so different, but don't care, there are some more Freedom Call fans which favorite album is “Circle of Life” as well ;)
That is the good thing of art, it's just a kind of taste. You can't be right , but you also can't be wrong...for everyone.

New songs and new album are always a challenge for musicians...again and again. You never know if you're pitching the right musical flavor for all the metal heads.

I personally love the album “Circle of Life”too, because it's a bit different to our traditional work, so I don't regret any of our songs from the past ;)

SFM: A lot of your albums feature bagpipies on the last song. Is there a specific reason for this? Could we expect this on the new album as well?

Chris: I'm just loving the sound of bagpipes, for me it's like a symbol of victory and glory...or something like this. I'm joining the sound of the pipes with bravehearts and amazing fests with lots of beer, wine and ladies ;)

In my songwriting it probably expresses good mood and happiness.

But we don't have a special connection to Scotland, but that we always had a great time while touring in the UK!

SFM: You guys like to use a lot of piano/keyboards in your music, but don’t have a full-time keyboard player. In the past, I believe you guys have had touring keyboardists, but not necessarily on every tour. How do you balance these types of songs (“The Quest”, “Beyond”, “Land of Light”, etc.) with the ones without keyboards when you’re playing live?

Chris: Yes, in the past we had keyboardists in the band, but we couldn't find the right guy with the right attitude ;)

We started with our, in my opinion, unique style to arrange the keyboard parts from the beginning on. Maybe the reason of this distinctive use of keys is, that I didn't really study to play the piano or keyboards. It's pure from the heart...

No keyboardists could reproduce this special charm, so we decided to keep our style without an keyboard player.

SFM: Later this year, you’ll be playing the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta. Is this the first time you have played in North America? What are your expectations for American crowds?

Chris: Yeah, we can't wait to play the first time for Freedom Call in the US! We just played at the cruise “70.000 tons of Metal”and one show in Mexico.

So we are very excited to meet all the metal heads at the Prog Power Festival.
I'm getting lots of requests and messages from metal fans from the US, so we are happy that the time has come for us to bring the “Happiest Metal of the world” to North America.;)

SFM: I know this question comes up often, but given the news about ProgPower, I have to ask: do you have any plans for a full North America tour?

Chris: We would love to tour all over the world...and after finishing let's start again ;)

Our tour schedule is increasing from tour to tour and we started to play outside of Europe...step by step.

But the focus of our tour activities is still in Europe...

Touring in the US is very complex for European bands, because of the visa issues and expensive at once.

But never say no...if we would get a good opportunity to come over, we would love it!!

SFM: Thank you again for the interview! Do you have any last words for the fans?

Chris: It was a pleasure for me to answer, thanks to you for your efforts and the interesting questions.
We are already very excited to come our first time to the US. The year 2016 seems to become an amazing year for Freedom Call. A fantastic new album is coming out and a complete tour in Europe is in progress.

So, the metal heads in the US can expect a extremely good-humored band Freedom Call on stage...

Cheers
Chris

SFM: Be sure to check out and like Freedom Call on Facebook!

Freedom Call – Beyond

In a genre built on darkness, power metal has always been the odd man out. Despite boasting many of metal’s most popular bands, the subgenre fails to attract many because of its more upbeat sound. This makes Freedom Call, the happiest band in the world, even more polarizing. For 15 years, frontman Chris Bay and the rest of the band have been pumping out some of the cheesiest metal in existence with varying degrees of success. Like many bands, Freedom Call’s early work was fantastic. After that, however, it’s been somewhat of a mixed bag. With “Beyond”, the band has almost brought back the glory of the first three records. Though this album isn’t quite as good as those ones, it is a formidable effort.

Opening cut “Union of the Strong” is not only the catchiest song, but also the best. As you may have guessed, Freedom Call’s music lives or dies by the quality of the band’s melodies, whether sung or played on guitar or keyboards. In general, the first 6 songs as a whole tend to have better melodies than the later ones. In fact, tracks like “Rhythm of Light” and “Dance Off The Devil” are tamer and aren’t built around excessively cheerful melodies. This is why these songs fail to be as enticing as the ones preceding them. To be fair to the band, the songs that are in their more typical style are definitely not original. If you are a Freedom Call fan, most of this album will sound familiar, and at times even reminiscent of old records. That isn’t a bad thing, but it definitely explains why there is a bit of experimentation.

One particularly nice surprise on “Beyond” is the lengthy title track. It opens with some piano playing, and the song is defined by its more epic qualities. The melodies are more majestic, and Bay’s vocal performance is otherworldly. “Beyond” brings back the feeling that “The Quest” had from the band’s second album, which is probably my favourite Freedom Call song, so it is a welcomed throwback. Other highlights include the playful “Come On Home”, as well as the great closer “Beyond Eternity”.

“Beyond” is a very strong record from a production standpoint. Freedom Call has found a great mix where everybody can be heard easily and the catchy melodies are always front and center. It would be nice to hear a bit more of the rhythm section. The drums feel a little restrained on this album. It’s almost as if the band is playing it a bit too safe here. The music is supposed to be safe and fun, but some more aggressive drumming would add a nice edge to it. Nevertheless, this is a very minor complaint on an otherwise great record. Much like fellow power metal bands Edguy and HammerFall, Freedom Call has put out their best record in years, and that alone makes it worth a purchase!  

Be sure to check out and like Freedom Call on Facebook!

Highlights

"Union of the Strong"

"Knights of Taragon"

"Come On Home"

"Beyond"

Final Rating

4.4/5 or 88%. 

Written by Scott