Home > audiofiles

CD review: Freya
By Billy Schear
wschear@mscd.edu

Freya Lift The Curse (Victory Records, 2007)

Your head jerks forward and back in a violent, steady motion and your temples throb to the brink of bursting with every brain-hemorrhaging beat. Your body can’t help craving more even as your mind screams out: “This is just another hardcore record, you imbecile!”

Formed from the remains of Earth Crisis, a semi-legendary metal outfit, Freya propagates the new-school hardcore tradition of juxtaposing war with religion and binding it all together with mythic Norse-inspired fantasies.

Their name refers to the Old Nordic word for lady and is also the name of a Norse fertility goddess, which gives some indication of this band’s personality and their presumed obsession with impotence. Their second album, Lift The Curse, when not pontificating about bloodlust and modern warfare, spends some quality time exploring their feminine sides. Songs such as “Lilith” and “Threads of Life” carry the torch for the pagan legends of yore.

Musically, they deliver what’s expected: lightning-fast guitar shredding, thunderclap bass loops and drums that pound with all the ferocity of Thor’s mighty hammer. For the maximum demonstrative effect, it is fundamental that practically all vocals are reduced to unintelligible snarls, ensuring their place forever in the headbanger’s catalogue of obscurity.

The final track on the album pays homage to Black Sabbath in the form of a cover of their 1970 hit “War Pigs.” Consistent in theme and style with the rest of the record, Freya goes the extra mile by adding nothing new to a song that’s been covered four times before, most notably on Faith No More’s 1989 The Real Thing. Aside from modern production values and some low growling in place of Ozzy’s high-pitched squealing, the jam is nothing special.

The genre is a mystery. It is nearly impossible to not play it as loud as man’s law allows, while banging your head against a wall from either abject boredom or genuine affection. You can’t help wanting these boys to rock, but you are powerless because you can’t help them rock, either. These bands have to take the initiative on their own. Innovation is the key to longevity, and redundancy will only bring them that much closer to their inevitable extinction.