When Freya first got together, there was a huge amount of hype surrounding them. And understandably so, the group consists of a fairly large number of Earth Crisis members, including Karl Crisis on vocals. The overall consensus was this group was going to be bananas. What we got with their first album however, “As The Last Light Drains”, was a borderline lighthearted punk rock meets hardcore lite romp in the woods. Many were disappointed. Then the group released a split record with California’s Hoods, and everything changed. The Freya on the split record was angrier, meaner…they were…well, more like Earth Crisis. Suddenly anticipation for the group’s new full length began to sky rocket. Everyone wanted to get their hands on this new Freya’s recorded material. So we all waited. We waited a long time, to say the least. But finally, the group released their sophomore record, “Lift The Curse”, and the masses were appeased. 

Since I first bought the band's last album, Of Malice And The Magnum Heart, which to me is as solid a record as they come, I've wondered what a followup to such an original sounding album would be like. Would the band opt for more melody and less...uhm...lack of structure? I guess with Misery Signals that's not even a fair statement, the songs are already ultra melodic and there's more structure than one could shake a stick at, it's just not 'conventional' structure. Would they opt for an easier to swallow, more commercially acceptable approach? Not likely, because the songs, while super technical are easy to swallow at the same time...and very listenable at that. And of course, how would the band sound with their new singer, considering that Jesse Zaraska, the band's original vocalist, who has also been involved with Compromise, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, and SleepingGirl, three very different yet very original bands, recently left the band to pursue his place in Canadian indie band SleepingGirl full time. The truth is, the band's new vocalist is more brutal, meaner, and I want to say more versatile, but don't qoute me on that, than Zaraska ever was. I think the ultimate advantage to having a new vocalist is that every song isn't somehow related to the death of two members of Compromise. While it was good to get that out in Zaraska's case, it made the older album a little bit difficult to relate to, considering several of the songs were very specifically and personally concerning two individuals, often times by name and citing specific situations and events. Sometimes ambiguity is a good thing, especially when the listener wants to be able to identify with a song's lyrics.