When legendary New York Hardcore band Earth Crisis temporarily went their separate ways in 2001 Freya was born, formed by three members of EC, bassist Ian Edwards, guitarist Eric Edwards and vocalist Karl Buechner. Named of course after the Norse goddess, Freya picked right up where Earth Crisis left off and have released a plethora of music over the last two decades, blending their Hardcore roots with a good dollop of Thrash Metal, while often using mythology as a basis for their lyrical content. 

Fight As One (Upstate Records) is their sixth full-length album and, well if you know the band from previous work or are a fan of the New York Hardcore scene in general, you know that Freya are going to deliver what you like. There is little deviation from the rulebook here, and Fight As One is a solid  interpretation of a familiar sound. 

Most songs on the record sit around the two-to-three minute mark and deliver a raucous run-through from a bunch of musicians that have been in and around the scene for over thirty years and know exactly what they’re doing. Opener “Nothingness Or God” provides a crunching and infectious slow sludgy groove and this continues into “Sense Of Doom” which features Hatebreed’s Jamie Jasta shouting in his recognisable style on the chorus.

Madball’s Freddie Cricien provides guest vocals on ‘Fight As One’ in his Hardcore-meets-Rap style, while Terror’s Scott Vogel lends his voice to the frenetic sub two-minute work out “1000 Yard Stare”. The riffs and the vocal hooks are pretty catchy throughout, and Freya do mix up the pace somewhat as they shift from the thrash out of “Flames Of War” and “Odin”, to the bouncy chugging of “Never Say My Name” and “Destructive Path”. 

Buy the album here:

https://upstaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/freya-fight-as-one

7 / 10 

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