voila_la_scorie
Freeways released their debut full-length album early in April of this year (2020 for those of you in the future). Prior to this they had a three-track EP and a song on a compilation album. The band is said to play music that captures the spirit of the seventies greats like Thin Lizzy, UFO, and April Wine while keeping a feel for the NWoBHM as well. I found the album cover really catchy and different, and the band's logo just had that classic look to it.
Only seven tracks and barely over 33 minutes, I think one more track would have filled up the disc a little better. The band certainly have the skills and song-writing talent for it!
"Eternal Light, Eternal Night" is a great opening track to let you know what the band is about. In a way, it's similar to what fellow Ontarians Cauldron are playing but somehow with a little less grit and a bit more melodic. But it's a funny thing you'll notice when the song starts and singer Jacob Montgomery sings, "When you were younger / Nervous or weak / Somehow you crawled back on your feet". Why, to the same melody you could sing these lyrics: "Full moon is rising / The sky is back / I heed your call I'm coming back". Yup! Whether by accident or in homage, the verse melody to "Eternal Light, Eternal Night" is the same as that of Judas Priest's "Desert Plains". Maybe I should ask the band about that!
Much of the album devotes itself to short hard rock tunes with that softer vocal style of the likes of April Wine's Myles Goodwyn or Rick Santers of Santers. Tracks like "Sorrow (Love In Vein)", the title track, "Battered & Bruised" and "Just Survival" basically follow that style of light-in-the-vocals, melodic hard rock. Good melodies and riffs. Great songs to enjoy.
Two tracks that stand out for being a little different are "Dead Air" and "Time Is No Excuse". "Dead Air" begins with a simple bass pulse that sounds like it could be from Golden Earring. This song drops in some clean guitar and a laid back atmosphere. One might recall at this point that Bachman Turner Overdrive had an album called, "Freeways". The lyric writing is quite rhythmic and catchy. "Oh, I'm standin' / On the precipice of time / Reassured what we find / We're always told to tow the line". If the NWoBHM feel hasn't shown up yet, I find it's in the music and vocals here, reminding me of early Quartz.
"Time Is No Excuse" eases things back to a kind of bluesy, smooth jazzy feel that you'd hear on a Triumph album when they take the pace down. The track is nearly seven minutes long and shows a bit of prog sensibility. Perhaps it's a good time to point out that two of the members are part of the technical / progressive thrash metal band, Droid.
This album succeeds because the music is varied enough and remains good throughout. The longer tracks contribute more musical diversity while the shorter tracks deliver the message short and simple with good riffs and melodies.
So, the main problem I have is that the album is so darn short, just as it would have been had it been released in the seventies. One more track would have rounded the playing time up to about 37 minutes which would have been perfectly satisfying.
Other than that, I think Freeways have delivered a pretty solid debut with room for some growth too.