Hide ‘n’ Freak: Meet Freakangel, Estonia’s weirdest new band!

“As you get older, you start liking different things – and sometimes, despite your original intentions, you end up moving in the opposite direction.”

For former Suicidal Romance frontman Dmitry Darling, the realisation that he was deriving more pleasure from his side-cum-studio project inspired him to heed these persistent thoughts. The creative end result was Freakangel – and now this Estonian four-piece are demolishing genre boundaries with their mix of blackened industrial, venom-laced vocals and crushing rhythms. New album How The Ghost Became is the latest step in their evolution – moving away from their EBM roots into bona fide metal territory. “When we started, we were playing dark electro but with everything else except drums,” recalls Dmitry. “The aim was to combine everything we liked to do live – to bring that sound to people who couldn’t be at our shows. It took us almost three years to find the sound we wanted, but I’m really pleased with how it came out.”

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Some days you just want something different from your music. On those days, reach for Freakangel’s How The Ghost Became (Digital World Audio). Freakangel hails from Estonia and are less about creating music than about creating aural art. Listening to How the Ghost Became is an artistic experience for the ears as the album consists of ten pieces of modern art that you listen to.

The music may get slotted into electronica, but the vocals are a mix of scream and new wave. It’s as almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Fear Factory and The Browning. Take a song like ‘Witness The Fall’ which starts out with what sounds like electronic gunfire. The drumming gives it an antiseptic feel. Then the vocals come it; hard, screaming, angst. At a minute twenty-one in there is a bridge that has an indescribable computer presence. It’s quite quick. Then the vocals kick in.

But before I can get a handle on it, the song segues into the next. ‘Insight’. Ironic as that’s what I’m looking for in How The Ghost Became. ‘Insight’ sounds similar to ‘Witness The Fall’. ‘Make Me Disappear’ has potential; less of the electronica and more of the atmospheric modern metal feel to it. ‘Make Me Disappear’ and ‘Death Walks With Us’ are the most accessible songs on the album and I also really enjoyed ‘Giving Up The Ghost’. It’s a straight up club song; flashing lights, lasers, over-crowded dance floor.

The second half of Freakangel’s How the Ghost Became differentiates itself in terms of genre more than the first. It’s still electronica-heavy, but more is done with the construction and tone and there are quite a few songs the listener will enjoy just for the fact it is darn good music.

Review by Ghost Cult Magazine

Since their set up in 2010 Estonian combo Freakangel didn’t stop terrorizing the electro-underground scene. It all started a rather dark-electronic way, but rapidly moved towards metal-driven influences. After four full lengths released on Alfa Matrix the band signed to Digital World Audio – which clearly seems more involved when it comes to metal music genres, to unleash their newest opus.

Content: I’ve always associated Freakangel with power and violence and that’s once again what the new work stands for. “How The Ghost Became” is a hard and merciless source of power and aggression. The harsh screaming vocals of frontman D. Darling have been joined by furious guitar playing, speed rhythms and raw electronics. The opening song, which is a kind of intro directly, announces what you might expect.

Freakangel is terrorizing the listener by heavy industrial-metal parts. The electronic arrangements are quite rough and totally fitting with the global power of the guitar, cadence and vocals.

Freakangel is one of the few bands I know which has found this perfect balance between metal music and electronics. Both elements are really essential to their work and part of their success. The metal style became more important during the years, but they still take care to compose great and very personal electronics. Some songs have been extra empowered by epic arrangements. This album moves on there where “The Show Of Violence” stopped. It’s even more power and extra rage and I like it! Every single song is new and violent outburst revealing a band with a very unique sound DNA!

The only regret is that you no longer can be really surprised if you’re familiar with the Freakangel sound. During the years they familiarized us with this harsh industrial-metal sound so you know what to expect.

Conclusion: Freakangel is a sonic bulldozer which has lost control and simply destroys everything on its way! It remains a great band and without a shadow of a doubt the new flag holder of their label.

Review by Side-Line

Behind the scenes on the set of the “In The Witch House” music video by Freakangel.

Simply start listening to ‘How The Ghost Became’ by FREAKANGEL! This is the best advice I can give! ‘How The Ghost Became’ is a genius art piece, powerful, unique and polished till perfection, which will blow your mind no matter in which musical genre you are! You will be taken to the cinematic journey, so accept the challenge to experience it, or continue to read this spoiler on your own risk!

I closed my eyes without any expectations, without checking the song titles or cover visuals, I focused on the sound, emotions, didn’t think about lyrics… instantly with the first sounds I was dragged in the mystic world and set of mind of the protagonist. Explosion of detailed, layered visuals was happening dynamically in front of my eyes. Songs were like scenes in the movie, appearing in the right rhythm and evoking strong emotions, very well thought through. I haven’t found any moment for which I could tell that it is the weak point in the album. It simply sneaked under my skin, and while catching deeper and deeper in, the hunger for more was raising until the last song came and then I put it on repeat.

This time I have lyrics in front of me, but first let’s see the album’s artwork done by Mayhem Project Design. The cover of the album seems simple while actually being complex, look deeper: there is a picture of the misty wood with opened undefined path, there is a white sign painted over it, there are hands above this picture in precise position. The hands look real with power over all. The woodland is just a picture in the back plan, unreal formation. The white sign is both, on the unreal picture and held between the real hands, floating in between the two worlds. You can feel something invisible being present there, and then look down, in the title of the album ‘How The Ghost Became’ which word is circled with the same white paint?

All lyrics are written by Dmitry Darling, creepy creations, invisible worlds, sick actions, heavy thoughts… into this hell the angelic clear voice of pure beauty by Meya Matzerath is thrown, delivering guest vocals in ‘Hell And Back’, reaching the highest climax with masterpiece precision. Every song strongly stands on its own while multiplying emotions of the album as a whole. First song is short and direct to the point, the introduction and the title says it all, ‘Mardyakhor’ (In Early Middle Persian Mardyakhor is a legendary creature, half human, half animal). The typography and underlined lyric riffs form the booklet like the spell, till the last song, the last sound, which literally bounce between ears, like the spirit which is finally released… remember the cover?

What about the sound? Three different tensions could be felt and distinguished, like three different states of mind. Where does it come from? ‘How The Ghost Became’ is the fourth album of FREAKANGEL and the huge turning point. It is emotional, raw rock with electronic elements and organic sound, the dark oppressive atmosphere, powerful wide range of vocals and more metal sound than ever before. The last song, ‘Giving Up The Ghost’, is groovy, similar to FREAKANGEL’s past, ‘Make Me Disappear’ reminds of MOTIONLESS IN WHITE and MARILYN MANSON, while the opening song ‘Witness The Fall’ is an example of super-heavy sound. All three styles are greatly intertwining, smoothly developing emotions and keeping the intense flawless rhythm. I hope this is not just a transition in the styles but a mix which will be kept as the unique language of FREAKANGEL, the new signature of industrial metal.

After years of intense touring around Europe, numerous festivals, ‘How The Ghost Became’ will be a great surprise for all new and old FREAKANGEL fans. It is highly recommended listening to which I am giving the highest marks.

Review by Reflections Of Darkness