Album review: MAGNUS KARLSSON’S FREEFALL – Hunt The Flame

Frontiers [Release date: 14.04.23]

Fourth Freefall album from rock’n’roll workaholic, Magnus Karlsson.

For this, Freefall’s fourth album, Karlsson’s rounded up 11 singers, all of whom offer something different, and we get a few tracks that show every sign that he is building further on a foundation established over 20 plus years of solo and band performance.

Opening and title track, ‘Hunt The Flame’, strikes a perfect pose. Karlsson’s dancing, pounding, hi speed symphonic metal sprint is skilfully slowed down by vocalist, Alexander (Crowne) Strandell’s considered melodic rock vocals, a clear sign of things to come.

A celestial choir intros ‘You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore’ in a chorale whisper, before Karlsson’s taut, high pressure guitar switches the music elegantly but emphatically into a hard rock song.

He cleverly deploys an adrenalised key change that takes us up into an arena rock chorus. Vocalist, Jakob (Poodles) Samuel’s scorched voice gains just enough traction to take it over the top. It’s an old fashioned approach, but it works every time.

Similarly, on ‘Break Of Dawn’ Kristian (Seventh Crystal) Fyhr’s vocals spark up up more kinetic energy than many vocalists do in a lifetime. Just as well, Karlsson has given him a melodic metal song that calls out for the singer to balance an unflinching toughness with compassion. Fyhr’s voice steps up.

Elsewhere, nothing quite matches up to these songs. That said, Karlsson’s sparkling orchestrations give each track a wonderful shine, especially ‘Nightbird’ which finds Mikael (Circus Maximus) Erikssen’s voice at its fiercest, investing heart and soul in a finely judged emotional performance.

‘Summoning The Stars’ too is worth investigating, if only – again – for the way in which Karlsson usurps the track’s balletic keyboard intro with frantic axework.

It’s not Freefall’s best ever album, but it confirms that Karlsson has never lost his musical vision. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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