Freaks and Clowns
s/t

There are some freaks and some clowns that have decided to bond together into a band that calls itself Freaks and Clowns. It is a Swedish band with members from Astral Doors and they have some freaky clown on the cover and eleven tracks of music that is described as classical hard rock meets modern power metal. This self-titled album is the debut and I have been listening to it for a while now.

Classic hard rock meets power metal is a pretty good description of what you get to hear when listening to this album, you could describe it as Astral Doors meets Judas Priest in a slightly heavier guise, something like that for those of you who like comparisons with other bands. It is a fairly powerful and energetic, the production is good but the album isn’t very varied but the playing time is sensible so that is probably not a problem. A problem for a critic could be that the album lacks original thinking and fresh ideas – it is like something we have heard before.

A good album but it is missing a sense of novelty that makes good albums great, the songs are good and some like the ending Tell it to the Priest and the third track The Battle of Love and Trust are pretty great but none of them are outstanding hit songs, songs that draws you to the album. It feels kind of like an album very much targeted at the traditional metal fans and not so much on those looking for a more novel and adventurous release.

It is a good debut album but not a standout album, it works and it is pretty entertaining but nothing that will be remembered. I think the Astral Doors release I wrote about earlier this year has a lot more to offer. This album should have been more freaky, more clown-like and more adventurous, then they could have had something but this album doesn’t give us anything that millions of heavy metal albums hasn’t already given us – you will probably like it if you enjoy the heavy metal genre.

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