Freedom Call – Land Of The Crimson Dawn

The German power band Freedom Call is coming back with their seventh studio album. Thirteen years have passed since their first studio release and they’re continuing powerfully their career. Unfortunately they never achieved commercial success but they always released very decent albums, some times less and some times more interesting. I am not so sure how to categorize “Land Of The Crimson Dawn” but I think it tends to the “more interesting” category. Now let’s see what the band has to offer with this album.

As it is known, the band’s style is mainly melodic heavy power metal, which sometimes borrows progressive elements too. That happens also in this album but the variety is even greater, which is also positive and negative because some people like to hear different things on an album and some other don’t like if there isn’t a specific character-personality on the album. You can find many styles in this album from melodic heavy power moments to folk and rock’n’roll. The album consists of fourteen songs which mirror the different musical moods and tastes of the band.

The album begins with a style which I think fits more to the band and gives me the impression that they play and compose better. Very dynamic songs, intensive guitars, staccato and fast rhythm sections with some progressive elements and in some tracks, the keys have the main role. In some of these songs they don’t hesitate to bring some epic influences in, slowing down the tempo and using double rhythmic singing. In these, you can see their potential, as they are on a very high level, as far as technicality is concerned, and composition. The other songs of the album are much differentiated, with a more rock’n’roll attitude, much simpler as songs and with a more party mood.

You can find many interesting things in the songs, but I couldn’t wait ’till they returned to their previous style. This fortunately happens, plus adding some folk elements. So in conclusion, I didn’t know at first what to think about this album, how good it was. It sure has some very strong songs, it has variety of styles in it, awesome technical skills from the band but some other songs give you the impression that they really don’t fit in the album and give you the feeling that they destroy a little bit the good image of this release. But nevertheless, the album deserves to be heard and everyone can keep the things he likes the most.