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Rating:
6.9 |
Freedom Call - Land Of The Crimson Dawn
24 February 2012
Disc I
01. Age Of The Phoenix
02. Rockstars
03. Crimson Dawn
04. 66 Warriors
05. Back Into The Land Of Light
06. Sun In The Dark
07. Hero On Video
08. Valley Of Kingdom
09. Killer Gear
10. Rockin' Radio
11. Terra Liberty
12. Eternity
13. Space Legends
14. Power & Glory
Disc II [digipack exclusive]
01. Flame In The Night [performed by Powerworld]
02. Hunting High And Low [performed by Downspirit]
03. Fairyland [performed by Secret Sphere]
04. Palace Of Fantasy [performed by Manimal]
05. Land Of Light [performed by Neonfly]
06. Warriors [performed by Hannes Braun]
I call myself a big fan of Freedom Call, having enjoyed their early albums such as Eternity but also the quite innovative Legend Of The Shadowking, in which the German band displayed a huge improvement on the songwriting level, even maintaining its typical style. Unfortunately, Land Of The Crimson Dawn is a worrying step backwards in quality.
The album begins quite well, with some classic Freedom Call epic tracks, as the opener "Age Of The Phoenix", but also offers some new and surprising songs. "Rockstars", "Rockin' Radio" and "Sun In The Dark" introduce to an original, even if quite weak, rockish style, as the band announced before the release of the album. But the highlights are more or less all here.
This release emphasizes the great limit of most power metal albums: except from some rarities, every album contains some great tracks, but loses its leg in the second half. Land Of The Crimson Dawn does not only belong to this group, is one of the flagship of this blemish. In fact, its second half is one of the most forgettable things I've ever heard, with standard riffs and weak choruses, while lyrics remain a great limit for the German guys. Moreover, this album risks to cause to everybody an overdose of cheesiness which might be lethal.
Overall, this album is not completely bad, but displays a big lack of inspiration, that I had not foregone after the release of the really solid and enjoyable Legend Of The Shadowking. Let's hope it's just a single let down, because, if it's not, or is a direct effect of Daniel Zimmermann's departure, we are losing a truly important band.
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Performance:
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8 |
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Songwriting:
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6 |
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Originality:
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6 |
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Production:
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9 |
written by R Lewis | 08.11.2012 |
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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Comments
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| I think the second part is better. "Killer Gear", "Eternity", "Terra Liberty". Here On Video is the worst song ever made... |
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Written by Mountain King on 08.11.2012 at 18:45
I think the second part is better. "Killer Gear", "Eternity", "Terra Liberty". Here On Video is the worst song ever made...
Well, in my opinion it was not a bad idea to detach Power Metal from the stereotype of "wooo fuckin' god epicness 'til death". I mean, it's nice in small doses, but it shouldn't be everywhere. "Hero On Video" was an attempt in this direction, but for me too it has poorly failed  |
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| I think their best since Eternity. I've really enjoyed this album. Way more happy metal songs than on the last 3 discs. My favs are Rockstars, 66 Warriors & Valley Of Kingdom. \m/ |
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Written by Kallis Helmi on 09.11.2012 at 00:43
I think their best since Eternity. I've really enjoyed this album. Way more happy metal songs than on the last 3 discs. My favs are Rockstars, 66 Warriors & Valley Of Kingdom. \m/
This is certainly happy, but I think worse than the previous ones, expecially Legend of the Shadowking. That was truly inspired, and had happy songs too ("Perfect Day" and such...) |
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| Don't really agree with the review. I enjoy this album very much (that's just me of course), maybe the fact that I saw them perform some songs twice this year (third time next month) has something to do with it. |
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I'm not a fan of any of the bands you reviewed, but I enjoy your reviews; you explain everything well and it's always a good read. Please keep it up  |
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Written by Milena on 10.11.2012 at 21:09
I'm not a fan of any of the bands you reviewed, but I enjoy your reviews; you explain everything well and it's always a good read. Please keep it up
Thank You! I just try to make my best using my quite poor English skills. Thanks again for your encouragement. |
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