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Since the release of "The Circle Of Life" a couple of years ago Freedom Call
have underwent some drastic changes since guitarist Cedric Dupont and bassist
Ilker Ersin both parted with the band. They have since been replaced by Lars
Rettkowitz and Armin Donderer respectively for this album, both of whom
participated in the song writing process alongside the core duo of Chris Bay
and Dan Zimmermann. Freedom Call is one of the few German power metal bands
who have separated themselves by having a personal and unique sound of their
own, some of it credited to Chris' crisp voice and passionate singing style.
Unfortunately the band often balances between excellence and disaster on this
album as they can't quite decide whether cliché pop or metal is the way to
go. After a decent intro with a very nice sublime melody we break into the
first real song entitled "Innocent World" which is a typical Freedom Call of
the caliber necessary to maintain their position as one of the leading bands
of the genre.
"United Alliance" makes for a decent followup while "Mr. Evil" embraces some of the sillier elements of latter day Helloween and is an incredibly lousy song in all aspects. "Queen Of My World" features a weak chorus from Chris but it has some very nice heavy guitar riffs that make it worthwhile. "Light Up The Sky" is another rather weak song but a few minutes into it there is some interesting vocal experimentation with multiple voices. "Words Of Endeavour" is a bleak and unoriginal ballad that was quite unnecessary to even put on the CD. "Blackened Sun" is a decent yet slightly anonymous song that leads us on to the title track which has a nice uplifting melody driving it forth. The final three songs leave my mind quickly without much trace although the mix of an Irish bar feeling and pop-ish power metal in the closing track is slightly interesting if nothing else.
Freedom Call have not strayed far from their delicately balanced mix of pop and power metal with the release of "Dimensions" but the material presented this time is of an unusually uneven quality. The band at its best is still great but unfortunately this is probably the weakest album of their career so far.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Demons Dance |
| 2. Innocent World |
| 3. United Alliance |
| 4. Mr. Evil |
| 5. Queen Of My World |
| 6. Light Up The Sky |
| 7. Words Of Endeavour |
| 8. Blackened Sun |
| 9. Dimensions |
| 10. My Dying Paradise |
| 11. Magic Moments |
| 12. Far Away |
: 49.22
| Buy other Freedom Call albums |
