Although originally born as a side project for D. Darling’s full time work in Suicidal Romance, Estonian industrial outfit Freakangel has taken on a life of its own recently. Originally following a similar form of EBM to Suicidal Romance’s trademark sound, over time Freakangel have shifted focus more and more onto the guitars and metamorphosed into a veritable industrial metal machine. Their latest effort, How the Ghost Became, is the latest step in their evolution.

Industrial beats and mechanical rhythms are the name of the game on How the Ghost Became. Everything is delivered with precision aggression as D. Darling spits out the venom with his barking vocals. The danceable elements of his older output feel considerably more subdued this time out, though, as the electronics are reduced to a backing role in the music, providing the atmosphere and adding a cold and unwelcoming tone against the crushing guitars, such as in the single “In the Witch House”.

In this respect, Freakangel feel like a more gothic interpretation of the brand of industrial music that Cyanotic presented on their 2015 effort Worst Case Scenario. Songs like “Make Me Disappear” have a real lack of industrial elements to them, almost becoming straight up metalcore if it weren’t for the oh-so-subtle synths adding an extra texture to the track. The creeping progression of “Hell and Back” is another standout moment that really works to Freakangel’s strengths, with the addition of female vocals giving it something different and standing as an album highlight.

The only real concern I have over this album is that I’m not sure that Freakangel have yet been able to strike the right balance between their EBM origins and the industrial metal approach they want to head down, in order to carve out their own identity. Too often I find myself comparing this to other industrial acts I’ve heard before (such as Combichrist and the aforementioned Cyanotic, or even Coal Chamber’s more industrial influenced moments), but they have elements in there which I believe they can utilise to establish their own sound. D. Darling is a solid vocalist and the occasional gothic flourishes can add an extra dimension to what they’re doing, if they added more of those melodies they would stand further apart from their contemporaries.

Overall, this is another excellent step in Freakangel’s development. Still some rough edges and at times feeling like they’re at a crossroads, but delivered with such precision and immersion that you don’t really have the time to notice these flaws when you’re submerged in their industrial anarchy. Freakangel have a goal in their sites, they just have a little further to go before they reach it. Until then, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Review by Sputnik Music

Attribution: http://youngbrokepissed.blogspot.com/2017/03/album-review-freakangel-how-ghost-became.html

Despite starting life as a side project, Freakangel has coalesced into a monster of a band in its own right. Over the course of seven years the band has developed from a dark ebm project into an industrial metal powerhouse. The band’s fourth full-length studio effort, ‘How The Ghost Became’, is their heaviest offering to date, like punch through a brick wall heavy. Sounding more like NDH guitars meets Nothing Records grooves, with a sprinkle of modern aggrotech electronics, the band have have become a bludgeon of raw and frantic emotion.

Songs such as ‘Witness The Fall’, ‘Insight’, ‘Make Me Disappear’, ‘In The Witch House’, ‘Death walks With Us’, ‘Kingdom Of Fire’, and ‘Devotion’ exemplify this sonic formula best with their heavy guitars, throat-shredding vocals and strangely enticing electronics hinting at their club-friendly past, but pushing harder than ever before into that metal scene. The development, no matter how this may disappoint anyone who prefers their early incarnation, feels totally organic and right, much in the same way that the recent releases from Cyanotic, Combichrist, and Dawn Of Ashes have.

There are the odd songs that retain an almost dance feel such as ‘Giving Up The Ghost’, and ‘Hell And Back’, but even these are firmly punctured by heavy guitars rooting them in the metal end of the band’s sound. But that’s not a bad thing. There is still that strong electronic presence that while not be 100% dance-friendly isn’t a total about turn from their roots.

Being a metal album the production is geared towards balancing the guitars with the aggressive vocals and making sure the electronics aren’t swamped by either. The band, know their stuff, and despite this significantly heavier approach achieve this balance with relative ease with no one element dominating another to its detriment.

This is perhaps the strongest and most well-rounded Freakangel outing to date. In fact it really sounds as though they have found themselves on this album. Everything seems to have come together to create a confident, heavy album that perfectly balances their aggression with their electronic prowess. It has been a well-paced evolution to this point, but this album feels like year zero, from which they can launch a wider assault on the metal scene. Time will tell how they attempt to evolve the sound further, but ‘How The Ghost Became’ will certainly be looked on as a pivotal moment.

Review by Intravenous Magazine

With less than a week left until “Freakangel“ and “Preternatural“ show in Vilnius, Lithuania the event organizers “Vilko Promotions“ have reached the vocalist of Estonian band “Freakangel“ Dmitry and asked him a few questions. Enjoy reading it.

Hi! How are you doing? Are you excited for the Vilnius show on 24th of February?

Good evening. I’m fine, thank you. Siting in my room, listening to Scott Matthew and drinking Franziskaner. Yes, I’m very excited for this show because it will be our first show with our just released 4th album “How The Ghost Became”. I literally can’t wait to share our new songs with all of you! Hope we will have some great mosh’n’roll time all together!

Many remember that you have visited Vilnius before, and played a gig in “Metro“ club almost exactly one year ago. How was it from your point of view? What was the most memorable thing from that night, and from Lithuania overall?

That’s right. It was in February too. 13.02.16, if I remember correctly. “Metro“ is a nice place and it suited our sound pretty well. We were performing a bit different set from what we are going to play on 24.02, lets say it was more electronic and easier to perform. It was a good show. I really enjoy doing small venues more than playing huge festivals. Being in front of people and sharing my life with them is the best feeling ever. The most memorable thing? After-party in a huge apartment with moshing to grindcore tunes… moshing with fucking toasters in our hands.

You have traveled quite a lot up until now; do you notice any differences among industrial music fans from different countries? E.g., is it any different to play a gig in Tallinn and a gig in Vilnius?

It’s never the same. Even if we come back to the same city after some time and doing the same venue. It’s always different… and this is the best part about being able to perform and about being able to tour. Of course there are countries that are more advanced in one style or another, but we are always trying to give our best so people would be able to enjoy our show no matter the musical background that they are coming from.

“How The Ghost Became” is your 4th full length album, along with some other releases such as digital EPs. Can you tell those who have not heard it yet, more about it? How is it different, or how does it stand out from what you have released so far?

With „How The Ghost Became“ we wanted to provide something different from our old releases. You see… we are still looking for our own sound and we really like to perform live. That’s why we have decided to produce an album that will be similar to our live sound. Just because of this in 2015 we have released “The Show Of Violence” DVD, so listeners who were missing our live shows would be able to get themselves more comfortable with our sound. Lets just say that our 4th album is pretty different, but if you are not new to our music then you will hear our “signature” for sure.

What can people expect from your show in “nArauti” club on 24th of February?

We are going to play some new songs, but we are not abandoning our old tracks, never. So yeah, be there… get a drink, smoke some weed and be ready to have fun. Because only together we will be able to make it a night to remember!

Do you want to say a final word? Pass some wisdom onto us?

These are hard times for musicians, music lover and dreamers… Сheers to the ones who dream! Support the underground and see you on 24th of February!

Thank You!

In Lithuanian: FREAKANGEL naują albumą pristatys koncertuose Vilniuje ir Kaune

After 3 full albums, 3 EPs and the live DVD “The Show Of Violence” on Belgian label Alfa-Matrix, we are pleased to welcome Estonian outfit FREAKANGEL to the DWA fold for the release of their new album “How The Ghost Became” – a move that also marks somewhat of a musical departure for FREAKANGEL, taking them further into industrial metal than ever before.

Over the past several years, FREAKANGEL have toured relentlessly around Europe – mutating in the process into a full four-piece live rock act, and acquiring an ever-increasing number of fans. Aside from numerous headline performances, they have also appeared at a huge number of industrial and metal festivals like Resistanz (UK), Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Dark Munich (DE), Hard Rock Laager (EE), Summer Darkness (NL), Castle Party (PL), Lumous and Findustry (FI) alongside acts like COMBICHRIST, LORD OF THE LOST and most recently RAVE THE REQVIEM.

“How The Ghost Became” seems almost light years removed from the dark electro sounds of FREAKANGEL’s 2010 debut “The Faults Of Humanity” – finally taking what has now become a full band firmly into metal territory, and quite definitively so. Dmitry’s singing, now freed from distortion, has never sounded so powerful nor his vocal range so wide – and the no album has ever come this close to capturing the full ferocity of FREAKANGEL’s live performance.

With “How The Ghost Became”, FREAKANGEL have fashioned an album of rare beauty where raw and emotional rock sits smoothly alongside electronic elements to form an entirely organic-sounding whole – and one which adds up to so much more than the sum of its parts. Setting a formidable new standard in industrial metal, this is an album that even FREAKANGEL themselves may find hard to follow!

Friends, we have been working on something else beside “How The Ghost Became“… In co-op with Limestone Games we give you “Red Hot Iron“! This is just a small tease of things to come…

“Red Hot Iron is a fresh take on melee based action games set in a distant sci-fi world where space-faring technology does not necessarily equal blasters and computers. You play as Saiph, a native blacksmith who ends up sharing an armor-like shell with a symbiotic Void overlord Aeon who was betrayed by his generals.” (c) http://www.redhotiron.net

Music: “Arrival” written by D. Darling and Art / Performed by Freakangel