When I first saw the cover of this album, I thought that Hangface was some kind of speed metal band with lyrical influences from historic and mythological concepts. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Hangface is a Norwegian Rock band, that has been compared with bands like Audioslave, Velvet Revolver and Metallica. Personally I don’t see or hear the resemblance to the last one, however, I’m also no real fan of that kind of music. Though this is their first full-length album, this band has already toured the USA twice and they have already played at “Quart”, the largest rock festival in Norway.
Neglecting these facts for now, I’ll move on to my own opinion. Though this is maybe the fifth time I’m listening to this album as a whole, I still find it difficult to keep some of the songs apart, and mostly I don’t even notice the change to a next song.
First up is “Cancel Me” which to me is just a straightforward rock song. The titlesong “Freak Show” however, is somewhat on a higher level. It has some catchy riffs and understandable lyrics, as I couldn’t notice on the first song, which did not seem to have any idea behind the song at all. “Down” is one of the heavier songs on the album, the riffs are well put the together, and the lyrics do not really interfere. The album contains some good guitar parts, for instance a great solo on “Today” and “Down” and a technical intro on “Ultimate Man”.
Though there is some variety in the speed of the songs (e.g. compare “Down” & “Northern lights”), I do not see a variety in the type of songs, and no variety lyrical wise. The beginning of “It could be you” is concerning lyrics just pathetic, a little kid could have made this up, it works for the song, but that’s all.
With 13 songs and nearly 50 minutes of rock, Hangface have put together a pretty nice album. But for fans of most types of Metal this is no advisable band. These guys are good at what they do, making rock music in this case, but looking at the intro page of this zine again, I realise that this is NOT what can be considered metal.

To conclude; I like the cover, I like some of the guitar riffs and other arrangements, but that’s where it ends. I mostly cannot tell the difference between songs, because they all sound alike, the only thing you do notice is a change in speed.
This album would score fine in any rockzine, as will it go high up the charts I predict, but this webzine is dedicated to death, pagan and trash metal, and not rock.

Recommendable songs are: “Freak Show” and “Today”
http://www.Hangface.com

Rating: 4/10                                                                                                 Review by Rhoutna

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