freedom_call_2005_04

» Freedom Call 2005 03 30

Reviewed by Thomas
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Tourname: Circle Of Life Tour 2005
Headliner: Freedom Call
Special guest: Mystic Prophecy
City: Gothenburg, Sweden
Venue: Musikens Hus
Date: 30 March 2005
Freedom Call set-length: 90 minutes
Mystic Prophecy set-length: 65 minutes

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Mystic Prophecy

Guitarist extraordinaire Gus G. who left Dream Evil can now only be seen and heard in three bands. German band Mystic Prophecy, Swedish band Nightrage and in Firewind. While Nightrage is melodic death and Firewind is more about melodic neo-classical hard rock, Mystic Prophecy turns out to be more of straight heavy metal where the melodies are in focus along with the vocals.

With Gus in the band you are sure to get some good guitars, and he as well of the rest of the guys were in a good and playful mood this evening, and it was great to see his solo parts with his fast fingers lightly flying over the guitar, speed and soul at the same time. Even though Mystic Prophecy differs from his other bands he delivers a guitar sound of the familiar kind. I had not heard Mystic Prophecy before and even if I can not say that I was impressed they made a good impression on me, not least vocalist Dimitri Liapakis (Valley's Eve) that possessed a powerful voice.

Their sort of thrashy metal gave me vibes of early Helloween and also a bit of a feeling of power metal, mostly presented with the catchy refrains which were the parts that contributed to most of the melodic sense. Mystic Prophecy acted as a confident band on stage and the size of the small crowd didn't appear to matter for the guys who seemed pleased with their performance. And it was nice to see a supporting band getting quite some time to play, they hade a little over an hour to spend and they used it well.

6 chalices of 10

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Freedom Call

Can there be a more happy and cheerful bunch of guys on a stage than Freedom Call? Usually the joy comes pouring out of them and so did it also this evening, most of the time at least.

It started ok with Kings & Queens as opener from the new album Circle Of Life from which most of the tracks were picked this evening. And the feeling I got from the second track We Are One was that this would become a fantastic show if they can keep this up, although that feeling subsided a bit. The new album, which I think is a great one, turned out to be not as good live compared to the tracks from the older albums, as the newer songs aren't as fast or as happily cheerful as many of the older songs. Hero Nation is one of two exceptions as it worked damn good live and made people jump up and down like crazy. The second exception turned out to be Carry On, a traditional fast-paced sing-along tune that created some of that Freedom Call magic live, it is not often you get such a positive feeling at a concert.

The vocals didn't seem to be on top at the beginning. Chris Bay, who has a high-pitch voice to start with, didn't seem to really knock the high notes off and his voice that isn't that powerful from the beginning came out pale. Luckily, as the show went on, his voice grew to be really strong. Chris and the other guitarist Cede were the most active ones on stage in terms of pushing the crowd on to sing along and mostly the bigger part of the small crowd didn't need that much of pushing. Freedom Call tends to generate a great feeling with their catchy refrains and if only the crowd could have been bigger it could easily have been magical moments, but as the hall was more than half-empty that feeling never really arrived to the extend I was hoping for.

Daniel Zimmerman behind the drums did an amazing job, even himself seemed to be amazed over the speed he managed to create. A very much competent drummer that also did a little solo number. I am no big fan of drum solos, but with his speed and a rhythm to go along with the solo it actually was kind of fun to watch as it was equally fun to listen to. I found that those songs that worked the best were the fast, melodic and ultra cheerful ones, Metal Invasion was a mighty performance in the speed department while Warriors Of Light created a nice ambience with sing-along moments.

When the high-speed pace or the really catchy parts are left out it tends to be stuck on average, which I found to be the case with the new material but nevertheless it is great to see a band on stage that enjoy what they are doing to the maximum. They surely spread some positive energy which is contagious, as it is hard to not put on a big smile yourself. As a conclusion, the only objection I have is that there were too many songs from the new album. They are great on album but don't work that good live in terms of the kind of Freedom Call I want to see live: fast and cheerful.

7 chalices of 10

SETLIST: (might be slightly inaccurate)

01. Kings & Queens
02. We Are One
03. Hero Nation
04. Hunting High and Low
05. The Quest
06. Warriors of Light
07. Mother Earth
08. Metal Invasion
09. Rhythm of Life
10. Land Of Light
11. Carry On
12. Starlight
13. Freedom Call
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14. Warriors
15. Hymn To The Brave