I remember seeing Freeways at Legions of Metal 2018 and lead vocalist Jacob Montgomery said "We are gonna make this the Legions of Rock n Roll for a bit." and he wasn't lying. Freeways embodies the spirit and soul of 70's hard rock down to its more creative liberties inspired by a time when Blue Oyster Cult. Lucifer's Friend and Uriah Heep ruled the landscapes. After their mind blowing set I picked up their "Cold Front" e.p and was floored by the sound these guys had. Finally a few years later and a whole lotta work, we have their first official album "True Bearings".
Opening fiercely with "Eternal Light, Eternal Night" with a nice melodic yet ominous feeling riff and a real power to it. The guitars really punch you in the gut with that vintage crunch yet almost a psychedelic feel in some parts as well. The chorus is really powerful as well with a nice simple hook to it. The solo's on the album in general feel really smooth and organic with again that nice warm vintage feel. "Sorrow(Love In Vain)" features some nice twin axe attack and is pretty straight forward but the mid section of the song has some really nice almost trippy atmospheric playing that feels definitely like this song came out of the early seventies. The title track is next and is one of the major highlights here with a good streamlined hook yet some really nice twists and turns with a bit of a prog edge in parts especially the verse riff. The guitar playing is top notch on this track with some nice bluesy bits as well as the next track "Dead Air". The dual lead guitar melodies are extremely present here and its really balanced on a nice catchy groove. The chorus also has this nice ominous vintage BOC feel to it that I really dig. "Battered & Bruised" brings almost a ZZ Top feel that I love so much. It is definitely one of the hardest rocking tunes on the album. I also like the acoustic guitar inclusion toward the end it adds a nice layering. "Time Is No Excuse" is total pure Blues Rock with a nice hazy atmosphere layered over it. The playing here is excellent with a lot of feeling in it. Rocker "Just Survival" completes this 37 minute trip with a nice straight ahead killer tune. There are a lot more interesting riffs thrown in here as well that keep the signature sound these guys carved out for them self.
This album flat out fucking rocks. Freeways definitely put a ton of love to not only make this album sound genuine for the era of music it bases its core sound in, but also for the creativity they put forth. It deserves multiple listens not by just metal heads but also loves of classic rock and blues rock. Freeways new album simply put is a straight jam you need on your playlist immediately, you'll thank me later.
9/10
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