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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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

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