Reviewed - 05/05/05
The
Circle Of Life
[SPV Recordings]
Ah, power metal. When it's good, it can be the most emotionally-charged, epically beautiful metal in existence. When it's bad… ouch. But power metal can also be neither. More than any other genre of metal (with the possible future exception of melodic death metal), power metal can be so neutral as to practically fade into invisibility. It can be stagnant, as unmoving as a fetid pond and half as imaginative. And while these extremes are not quite reached by Freedom Call, "The Circle of Life" is still the sort of power metal album that makes me want to listen to something else entirely.
Without a doubt, Freedom Call are a vocal-oriented band. Truth be told, there really isn’t much to listen to beneath the choral surface of "The Circle of Life." And virtually all the vocals here are in the form of thick, polyphonic choirs. It's as if this album were tailor-made for singing along to… except the melodies are not quite catchy enough or simplistic enough for successful arena participation.
Most of the music is mid-tempo, 80's style European power metal (obviously descended from Stratovarius or Helloween), either with moderately continuous double bass or a slightly heavier, harder-hitting one-two-one-two pattern. In fact, I'd be amazed if there are more than half a dozen different drum riffs throughout "The Circle of Life." Similar things may be said about the guitar, bass, and keyboards – sometimes you might hear a particularly driving riff or an odd keyboard sound (there's a guitar riff about two and a half minutes into "Hunting High and Low" that sounds almost like something Symphony X would do, and that's about all that comes to mind), but for the most part, there is nigh on nothing that isn't boring about the instrumentation of Freedom Call.
But as already mentioned, the vocals take center stage on "The Circle of Life." More than once during this album, all the instruments cut out, leaving an a capella mantra of one sort or another. The number of instances vocalist Chris Bay sings a single melodic line without accompaniment are very slim. It can certainly be fun listening to choral metal; some of my favorite metal bands on the planet include the likes of Blind Guardian and Rhapsody, two of the best examples of epic multi-layered singing. And it can be difficult not to get swept up by the sheer magnitude of the vocals, even here. But there's virtually nothing about Freedom Call's choral approach that is worth mentioning, other than this. Take five or six people and have them sing the same thing, and you have the choir used here.
But what else can you say about the sort of band that has two tracks called "The _____ of Life" and two songs called "Star_____" on the same album? It's obvious that imagination and creativity are not two characteristics sought out by Freedom Call. And that, I think, is one of my biggest gripes about power metal; the emphasis seems to be on sounding like every other band in the genre, rather than pushing the boundaries of genre classification and coming up with a wholly new sound. Helloween was (and is) an awesome band, to be totally honest… but that doesn't mean we need a hundred other bands sounding like Helloween. And just because Stratovarius are successful, that doesn't mean Freedom Call will be successful mimicking that sound (or any other sound).
When they are good, Freedom Call are like Luca Turilli's most recent solo album without the orchestra (or the guitar virtuoso). When they are bad, Freedom Call are like a watered down Stratovarius clone. "The Circle of Life" can be a fun album to listen to, and I would be lying if I didn't expect to pop this disc into my player some day in the future, long after this review has begun collecting dust. But there's just not enough here, both in terms of power metal or music in general. All style and no substance is not a good way to go… especially when you are using someone else's style.
[SPV Recordings]
Ah, power metal. When it's good, it can be the most emotionally-charged, epically beautiful metal in existence. When it's bad… ouch. But power metal can also be neither. More than any other genre of metal (with the possible future exception of melodic death metal), power metal can be so neutral as to practically fade into invisibility. It can be stagnant, as unmoving as a fetid pond and half as imaginative. And while these extremes are not quite reached by Freedom Call, "The Circle of Life" is still the sort of power metal album that makes me want to listen to something else entirely.
Without a doubt, Freedom Call are a vocal-oriented band. Truth be told, there really isn’t much to listen to beneath the choral surface of "The Circle of Life." And virtually all the vocals here are in the form of thick, polyphonic choirs. It's as if this album were tailor-made for singing along to… except the melodies are not quite catchy enough or simplistic enough for successful arena participation.
Most of the music is mid-tempo, 80's style European power metal (obviously descended from Stratovarius or Helloween), either with moderately continuous double bass or a slightly heavier, harder-hitting one-two-one-two pattern. In fact, I'd be amazed if there are more than half a dozen different drum riffs throughout "The Circle of Life." Similar things may be said about the guitar, bass, and keyboards – sometimes you might hear a particularly driving riff or an odd keyboard sound (there's a guitar riff about two and a half minutes into "Hunting High and Low" that sounds almost like something Symphony X would do, and that's about all that comes to mind), but for the most part, there is nigh on nothing that isn't boring about the instrumentation of Freedom Call.
But as already mentioned, the vocals take center stage on "The Circle of Life." More than once during this album, all the instruments cut out, leaving an a capella mantra of one sort or another. The number of instances vocalist Chris Bay sings a single melodic line without accompaniment are very slim. It can certainly be fun listening to choral metal; some of my favorite metal bands on the planet include the likes of Blind Guardian and Rhapsody, two of the best examples of epic multi-layered singing. And it can be difficult not to get swept up by the sheer magnitude of the vocals, even here. But there's virtually nothing about Freedom Call's choral approach that is worth mentioning, other than this. Take five or six people and have them sing the same thing, and you have the choir used here.
But what else can you say about the sort of band that has two tracks called "The _____ of Life" and two songs called "Star_____" on the same album? It's obvious that imagination and creativity are not two characteristics sought out by Freedom Call. And that, I think, is one of my biggest gripes about power metal; the emphasis seems to be on sounding like every other band in the genre, rather than pushing the boundaries of genre classification and coming up with a wholly new sound. Helloween was (and is) an awesome band, to be totally honest… but that doesn't mean we need a hundred other bands sounding like Helloween. And just because Stratovarius are successful, that doesn't mean Freedom Call will be successful mimicking that sound (or any other sound).
When they are good, Freedom Call are like Luca Turilli's most recent solo album without the orchestra (or the guitar virtuoso). When they are bad, Freedom Call are like a watered down Stratovarius clone. "The Circle of Life" can be a fun album to listen to, and I would be lying if I didn't expect to pop this disc into my player some day in the future, long after this review has begun collecting dust. But there's just not enough here, both in terms of power metal or music in general. All style and no substance is not a good way to go… especially when you are using someone else's style.
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Tracklist:
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| Rating: 6.5/10 | |
| Release Date: 2005 | |
| Length: 50:57 | |
| Review By: F. Justin Ossmann | |
| Total Reviews: (1) | |
| Bands Website: Go Here | |
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