Review of Freya - "Grim"

GRIPPING GRIM

By: Geoff Teach

Having hung around for fifteen years now, the Syracuse, New York-based melodic death/hardcore act Freya certainly know a thing or two about recording a great album. Although not as universally known as some of the other bands that a couple of their founding and contributing members have also played in, Freya is an act that is positively as great – if not greater – than the sum of its parts.

Featuring members of acts such as Earth Crisis and Soilwork, listing influences like Between The Buried and Me and Opeth, and producing music that sounds something akin to a mix of all of those acts plus a dash of Cattle Decapitation for beautiful brutality, Freya’s fifth studio album, Grim (Fast Break! Records, released 9/30/16), is a smashing display of metal virtuosity and maturity that begs to be listened to on constant repeat.

Complex, compelling, and completely engrossing, Grim is an album that draws you in from its very first notes and does not let go until it’s done with you, sucking you into its captivating vortex for the entirety of its eleven songs and forty-six minutes. Some of the standout tracks on Freya’s Grim include the opener, “The Alchemist”, the melodically malicious tracks “The Sentinel”, “Swallowed Alive”, and “To Burgeon Feathered Wings”, and the impressive closer, “Eyes of Malevolence”.

Freya’s Grim is available now, so be sure to order a copy once you’ve had a chance to check out the full album below!