Review Summary: The time has come.
Over the years Crossfaith have released some decent records, and their desire to experiment runs extensively. The thing is, the band have never truly managed to capture a sound that represents them best; albums always contain several solid ideas, but are marred by an equal number of bad ones. One thing is clear though: despite being caught in limbo, always a stone’s throw away from really hitting the mark, they’ve been just as close to having the whole thing crash down on them. There’s an underlining awfulness to the band’s music which has been masked pretty well in recent records, this is primarily down to stronger ideas taking hold and diverting attention. However, it is something I’ve noticed pretty well when listening to these LPs. So, listening to
Freedom, it comes as little surprise that we’re at this junction; they’ve finally dropped the ball. There is some solace which comes from it all though, like a cold that’s been lurking inside and taunting your body for weeks: when it finally comes out there’s a level of satisfaction to be had knowing it’s revealed itself so you can move on with your life once it’s had its cycle.
Put simply, this 3-track EP is dire on all fronts. Still dragging their knackered duffle bag of tired sounds onto this project, they leave a wide-open space for the beast to reveal itself: Kenta’s tenacious obsession with singing in English is still present here and makes everything sound like a big joke, perfectly matched with some awful lyrics, while the band insist on bringing the “drink fast, party hard” themed tunes to your door; a gimmick which brings insult to injury given how old and tired it sounded the first time they tried it on their
Zion EP. But even if we stop looking at flaws which have plagued the band in the past, there’s a brace of brand new ones to unearth: the guest spots from Enter Shikari’s Reu Reynolds and Jesse (The Bonez) magnify the laughable stupidity on offer here, while moments found on “Diavolos”, for its ham-fisted, tact-on cleans and derivative mix of “WAAOooooAAAoooo” chants, solidify my wish in receiving the mother of all Mortal Kombat Fatalities before it ends. The shocking thing is, this EP is 3-tracks long, with a run-time of 10 minutes, and even that was too much to bear. The band have lost their spark on this. The electronics feel so out of place for the most part, while members contribute parts which don't sound or feel right for the songs at hand. The bottom line: if this is what their next album has to offer, they've got problems.
Terrible.
EDITIONS: DIGITAL
PACKAGING: N/A
SPECIAL EDITIONS: N/A
