Where have you been all our lives, The Freqs??? On the surface, checking out Poachers from The Freq’s and you can see where comparisons to early Royal Blood (2014’s self-titled in particular) or Queens Of The Stone Age and their Lullabies To Paralyze daze might come in but when you really dive in to their latest release you’ll come to find that there’s so much more to this eclectic and electric Salem, MA-based trio.
Bombastic to start with Zack Fierman’s thunderous drumming, Seth Crowell’s rollicking riffs, and Ian Mandly’s bouncing bass humming loudly and synching together for “Poacher Gets The Tusk”, The Freqs make a unified statement during their open four minute and change opening salvo: We didn’t come to fuck around! “Powertrippin'” accents that aesthetic and then some on this clobbering cacophony of calculated noise that follows “Poacher…” as Crowell’s croon turns into a caw to match the loudness all around.
“Asphalt Rivers” is kinda gorgeous and comes out of left field as it abruptly quiets everything down for a spell like Pantera or Black Sabbath inserting a “Hollow” or a “Solitude” into the mix to keep listeners engaged and constantly on the edge of their seats waiting for the inevitable return of the heavy… which happens about a minute and a half in. Welp, guess you didn’t have to wait long then! Next up, “Sludge Rats” is MASSIVE. From Crowell’s guitar tones and the sonic fuzz that just radiates throughout the whole thing combined with the rad atmosphere of it all from Mandly’s synths and you’re stuck with an easy stand out on a record that’s already full of ’em!
“Chase Fire, Caught Smoke” gets a little more MASSIVE than that especially midway through as this wall of sound comes home to roost and Crowell’s voice gets swept up in the sonic flood which splashes into “Witch” which gets bigger than that even (And seriously, why have you not pre-ordered this thing already at this point?) and serves as this kind of perfect anthem for The Freqs “sound” if you will that resonates long after the final notes from Fierman, Mandly, and Crowell ring out.
Poachers arrives digitally on February 3rd and your one spot stop for all the links, pre-saves, pre-orders, streams, and more is here.
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