:: Freestate - Twice Alive

Freestate

There’s something about artists that let their music do all the talking rather than sending out a massive fifty page biography (which is more often than not full of useless and misleading information) to accompany their latest recording, and that’s exactly the angle that Freestate has chosen to pursue with its debut EP ‘Twice Alive’. Founded for the better part of two years and hailing from Melbourne, Victoria, the four piece act (comprising vocalist Drew Kario, guitarist/backing vocalist Vincent Mancuso, bassist Val Beccia and drummer Brian Magro) has put together an impressive collection of songs on ‘Twice Alive’, all of which show that vibrant high energy hard rock is alive and well. After a somewhat brief Eastern sounding percussion/keyboard introduction, heavy guitars are brought out to start out the opening track ‘Phoenix’. Heavy riffs, acoustic flourishes and solid drums might form the musical basis of ‘Phoenix’, but it’s duel vocal harmony presence of Kario and Mancuso that evens out the equation with a strong sense of melodic appeal, giving the band’s overall sound one that’s both catchy and rocking. Aside from performances themselves, what really makes Freestate’s debut interesting is the diversity of tempos used throughout the six tracks, with both ‘Again’ and the slower/ballad like ‘Man Who Couldn’t Lie’ catering more towards the melodic side of band’s sound, while ‘Lately’, the slow building title track ‘Twice Alive’ and the stomping highlight ‘Mystery Man’ are all riff based anthems of the highest calibre. From a songwriting, production (handled by the band themselves) and performance perspective of view, the six tracks on ‘Twice Alive’ says a lot about Freestate, and it’s all positive. If this is only a taste of what’s to come, Freestate is a band you’ll be hearing a lot more from in the future as the band march towards world domination.