As Fast Break! Records preps the fifth full-length from Syracuse, New York-based FREYA, the monolithic Grim, for release this Friday, the band has issued the entire album for early streaming, including a feature with founding vocalist Karl Buechner. Fast Break! Records will release Grim this Friday, September 30th on digipak CD and all digital platforms; preorder packages can be found HERE.
With more than forty-five minutes of futuristic, fantasy-driven, and ultimately devastating metal,FREYA‘s Grim was mixed and mastered by Jason “Jocko” Randall at More Sound Recording Studio in Syracuse, and features the intense graphic cover artwork by FREYA‘s Brendon Flynn. Giant serpentine guitar riffs tightly coil around vast passages of tension and melody, expanding upon the thematic scope of their previous release, Paragon Of The Crucible, deriving inspiration from the historical origins of Grimm’s folktales. Grizzled veteran founding frontman, Karl Buechner (Earth Crisis, The Path Of Resistance, Apocalypse Tribe, 1000 Drops Of Venom) breathes life into these cautionary tales, delving deep into their macabre realities and the harsh circumstances of their genesis. Newly-recruited drummer Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth, Soilwork), the one-man stampede of savagery, lends his machine gun percussive virtuosity to the album, his complex timing and imagination a perfect complement to the diverse riff-work of guitarists Brendon Flynn and Thom Turner.
Issues Buechner commented:
“Flynn’s songwriting and all of the artwork he painted for the album forcefully project the darkness and severity of the dual themes of conflict and survival. After stepping back from Grimthat’s the impression the collection of lyrical stories leaves me with overall. The power of the simple warnings in the cautionary folktales that we all grew up with still resonate. Times change but humans with all of their flaws ranging from minor irksome offenses all the way down to those with dangerous and sadistic obsessions do not. Tommy and Dirk brought some serious intensity to Grim and every day of composing and refining was a fun challenge bringing this vision to life together. Thanks to Dave Earsplit and all at Fast Break! Records for getting Grim out there and of course much thanks to all who support and appreciate Freya. The future is grim!”
Decibel Magazine gave Grim an 8/10 rating in their new review, which includes the following:
“…it’s been a long, strange goddamn road to Grim – one Buechner alone has walked in its entirety – but here’s to the iconic vocalist for sticking it out ’cause he just made the purest heavy fucking metal record of his career – a gloriously intricate, unabashedly epic, soulful-yet-vicious affair far more Dio than Destroy The Machines.”
New Noise Magazine offers of the album
“FREYA extol these tales over aggressive metal. Lyrics drip with stains of blood and savagery, reliving ecological disasters, rebellions, and plagues. The newest record, Grim, gathers fodder from the original Grimms’ Fairy Tales. The original fables and parables heralded gruesome and violent imagery to scare and warn children. Vocalist Karl Buechner-the only remaining original member of FREYA, and the vocalist of Earth Crisis, Path Of Resistance, and Vehement Serenade-has rebuilt the band from their initial line-up and vision.”
