Freya – Lift The Curse (c) 2007 Victory Records Forged from the fire of Earth Crisis and blessed by the Norse Goddess of TGIF, I submit to you, Freya. Lift The Curse is the newest effort from the Syracuse band that is equal parts metal and hardcore. The structure is certainly hardcore. Some of the guitar fills and breakdowns and the vocals are definitely METAL though. I have never been a fan of really harsh vocal growlings. Freya is on the edge there. The music helps reel it back in a bit, but overall Lift the Curse is a bit too vocal crunchy for me. Freya does go and keep it short attention span friendly though, with tracks lingering around the two and a half minute mark, with the exception of the prerequisite cover of War Pigs. All in all a good release, but again I’d like to hear less growl. –Jerry Actually
Month: February 2007
The Agency [Turn]
The Agency – Turn (c) 2007 Perch Records I'm scared. I really am. The massive resurgence of the sounds of the 70's and early 80's is naturally (or perhaps supernaturally) progressing in what I consider to be a negative direction. Let's take, for instance, The Agency. They kick off a vibe somewhere between Supertramp and Night Ranger or Lover Boy. Well, I say turn me loose, 'cause when you try to bridge that kind of gap you bound to end up in the anachronistic and perilous path of the mellow gold. Some of you out there may know what I'm talking about. The horrid drivel of mid-late 70's adult contemporary. When it comes to the point where bands are starting to sound like Andy Gibb or Johnny "Slow Dancin'" Rivers–holy crap–man, I want out! In all fairness The Agency has a decent pedigree, featuring members of Dashboard Confessional and Seville, and I'm not saying that they are all bad. I'm just saying that if your into it, maybe you should look into getting some new shag carpet and a disco ball for the ceiling of your bitchin' conversion van.–Jerry Actually