Freak Kitchen - Organic

*=Staff's pick	Speak When Spoken To* The Rights To You* Look Bored Chest Pain Waltz Mussolini Mind* Guilt Trip* Becky Independent Way Of Life Heal Me Infidelity Ghost Sob Story* Breathe

Genre	Hard Rock	Matthias IA Eklundh	Vocals
Tracks	12	Matthias IA Eklundh	Guitar
Runningtime	46 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Thunderstruck Prod.	Christer Örtefors	Bass
Release	04 May 2005	Björn Fryklund	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

The dynamic trio Freak Kitchen have finally arrived with the follow up to their magnificent album Move (2002). Freak Kitchen is a band that makes you happy and on a good mood with their melodic styled hard rock and some serious brilliant guitar playing. With their mix of humor and seriousness and catchy songs with awesome musical skills from the band I have found them irresistible during the years and my expectations on Organic was perhaps higher than what I usually have from a band.

Speak When Spoken To which opens the album is the hardest track I have heard from Freak Kitchen and has a raw attitude with some really heavy riffs, and the craziness and amazing guitar playing is in the right place immediately from the beginning. The band is joined by Bumblefoot on the track and I am not gonna pretend to know who he is, but I can tell you one thing, he is one hell of a guitar player. The guitar playing is amazing as always from IA. Without having with a "in your face" attitude he dazzles you with his fingers and what they are able to do, technical or emotional, fast or slow, heavy or soft, he masters all methods of playing.

With Freak Kitchen there are no fancy songs, but instead just quality and well performed strong hard rock songs with refrains that stick almost immediately and with freakish guitar playing from IA. And even if the start was heavy, most songs are in the traditional and typical Freak manor with Rights to You, Look Bored, Mussolini Mind and Heal Me for instance, but what I miss this time is a bit more sting in the song material.

On Organic there are a couple of songs that pass you by without notice, and even if some of them hold great guitar parts the songs aren't strong enough as could be expected from Freak Kitchen. Independent Way Of Life, Becky and Infidelity Ghost for instance, are songs that are more pale and lifeless than what you could expect from these guys and those tracks don't quite have what it takes.

I find it hard to compare Freak Kitchen with other bands but one vibe I occasionally get is one close to Kings X, especially in the parts with vocal harmonies that are something that Freak Kitchen favors in some of their songs. Organic, which is the bands sixth album, is also the second album with Björn and Christer, two very talented guys that don't get as much focus as IA, but nevertheless these two guys make a solid rhythm section and help to get the groove and flow going in the music.

Freak Kitchen is a band that is full of playfulness and it shows on their albums, mostly in many of the lyrics written with a humoristic touch and also with the crazy guitar breaks. Although that side never comes to its full right on the album but luckily there is a bonus DVD stuck to Organic that includes three live videos. Not the best sound or picture but good enough to temporarily satisfy the need of seeing Freak Kitchen live, and along with three other promotional videos, this is a good bonus.

See also review of: Land Of The Freaks , The Road Less Traveled

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8	8	6

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Thomas