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Freya - All Hail The End

Rating

RIYL

Earth Crisis
A Life Once Lost
Hatebreed
Ringworm

Release Date

01/19/2010

Label

Victory Records

Tracklist

1. The Light That Rivaled The Sun
2. The Wanderers
3. Human Demons
4. Labyrinths Of The Ant People
5. The Guardian
6. Iron Locust
7. Deities Of Wrath
8. Condemned
9. Sons Of Yamir
10. Choosers Of The Slain
11. Into A Wasteland
12. The Remnants
13. The End Of The End

If the way to power is with might and steel then Freya has become the soundtrack to those bloody battles. Their hard-as-nails third full-length for Victory Records, All Hail The End, is a concept record about the ways in which humanity has always striven to gain and maintain power through the ages, dealing particularly with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The album is trying to convey a message, to communicate a strong sense of place and an overall vibe, and in this respect it greatly succeeds. The album is rife with vivid imagery. Armed with a fuller, more brawny sound than ever before All Hail The End is easily the best album Freya has put out to date. Everything about this record is bigger: the riffs, the thunderous drumming, even the scope of the record has expanded beyond anything these guys have tried in the past. This is the sound of a side-project (of Earth Crisis’ Karl Buechner ) becoming the real deal.

All Hail The End greatly benefits from the band’s decision to incorporate musical elements as far afield as traditional Middle Eastern vocal accompaniments (see: “Human Demons”) and a few choice riffs that honestly sound like something from the Nile discography (“Iron Locust,” “The Guardian”). These stylistic choices make the listener feel as if they are in the midst of these locales of distant time and place, having been transported in Karl Buechner’s metallic time machine to the hot Near Eastern desert sands staring at the monuments of power while the masses labor under the scorching sun.

Freya has become its own entity, free from the tall shadow Earth Crisis casts. This is the album that finally shows Freya standing on their own merits. This is one of those albums that succeeds in the strength of the whole rather than riding on the coattails of particular cuts. From track one to thirteen there is not a wasted second or a weak spot; if you wanted to look at it conversely, however, that would mean there isn’t that one true standout. On the whole a strong exercise in quality control, All Hail The End is a heavy, cohesive affair that should please both metal and hardcore fans alike.

--Jake Oliver