From the ashes of straightedge metallers Earth Crisis comes the mighty Freya.  Oh my.

      I've got to come clean and say that I was never much of an Earth Crisis fan.  Not because I didn't like their music, but more because I didn't know who the hell they were.  We got a copy of 1998's Breed the Killers when I was working at Z Rock, but I didn't ever listen to it.  It's probably just as well, anyway, since I was all up on the nu metal bandwagon at that particular time and wouldn't have appreciated Karl Buechner's voice much.  However, now that I've come all the way to the dark side, I can truly "get" what Freya is all about.

      As the Last Light Drains could easily be lumped in with the glut of "nu hardcore" being promulgated by bands such as Killswitch Engage, Poison the Well, Eighteen Visions and so on.  You have Karl's gruff, straight-outta-the-Bronx growl coupled with guitarist Darien Lizotte's clean vox, add in the bottom-heavy assault from bassist Bulldog and drummer Corey Koniz, plus the added depth of guitarist Erick Edwards and you've got the standard formula right there.  I won't try and lure you away from that thought because you'd be pretty right on, but to dismiss Freya as another player in a new genre would be a pretty bad idea.  (Not that there's anything wrong with those three bands, mind you.)

      Earth Crisis was founded on a platform of environmental conservation and veganism, and while Karl's lyrics for Freya still evoke those images of yore (as in the song "Resuscitation"), it's Darien's more straightforward hardcore lyrics that add another dimension to the band.  As Karl says on the Victory Records bio page, "Darien's vocals will be a surprise curveball for some longtime Earth Crisis fans, with his clean sound, and his songwriting and musical approach fit perfectly with the direction we were going. We wanted to make a record that hung in the balance, expressing the truth of our reality, which includes acknowledging and appreciating beauty as well as anger and pain."  I've never been one for preachy lyrics, so it's nice to have some filler mixed in with the meat, so to speak.

      Musically, Freya is kind of in that 'tweener land that the Devin Townsend Band also occupies.  It's heavy, much heavier than DTB, but still has enough harmony and melody that more traditional metal fans will decry blasphemy to the name of "metal."  However, while the latter was obviously influenced by Steve Vai and Rush, the former was influenced by Madball and The Accused.  There is definitely a hardcore aesthetic to Freya (witness "Glasseating Smile" and "Dead In Her Eyes"), but the clean harmonies make it a truly enjoyable listen.  My favourite moments on As the Last... so far would have to be the opening tandem of "Veritas" and "Negative Infinity" (I'm a sucker for instrumental openers), and the crushingly hook-laden "April Witch."  About the only song that I can't get behind too much is "Seize the Day" with its youthcrew-styled gang chorus of "Car-pe-Di-em!!"  It seems a bit cliché to me, even if the music behind the cheez is just *nasty* good.  Another nice point is that all of the instruments come out in the mix, with punchy guitars , throbbing and fuzzed out bass and an aural punishment from Koniz's drums.  I'd like to give a shout out and say, "Nicely done!" to co-producer Doug White.

      It's always good to see members of an influential band come out with a follow-up album that's just dynamite.  Other ventures into this territory (like Porno for Pyros, Talk Show and Coverdale/Page, to name a few examples that are completely unrelated to this genre) are often just drivel from the original act that didn't pass muster with the rest of the founding cast.  With the release of As the Last Light Drains, Earth Criseans (Earth Crisisites?) Buechner, Edwards, and Bulldog can be proud of their new band, along with the definite potential to influence a whole new base of fans.  I suppose that only time will tell if the debut from Freya will be a landmark album, but for right now, it's in heavy rotation at the GG homestead.  And even if it did suck, would YOU want to tell these guys that their album is bad?

Rating: Rock Solid Work out of 10