Get It On
Freshman have been around for a few years now and this debut album has been a long time coming but it looks like it’s been worth the wait. Previous low key releases and demos have hinted at real potential but there was always something not quite right, be it production or the delivery and there was the danger that they would never find that magic formula but on this album at last it all comes together.
Where Freshman really score is that they don’t sound like anyone else; there are lots of hints at influences but they never borrow too much from any single source and that gives them a fresh and original feel. It’s rock music with a hard edge but layered with plenty of melody and hooks and in the charismatic Mark Harrison they have a fine singer. His range is good and his voice has just enough grit around the edges to pull off the harder songs and yet still drop easily into a gentle lilt for the token ballad ‘Maybe Someday’.
The cornerstones of ‘When Shadows Fall’ are the big riffs and choruses of the older songs like ‘Stronger’ and ‘Walk Away’, which although familiar have never sounded so full and punchy as they do here. The newer songs however are where Freshman are at right now and on this evidence the future is very bright. Title track ‘When Shadows Fall’ is superb, big guitars, layers of wah and a brooding verse that gives way to a beast of a chorus where Chapman really gets to cut loose. OK so the ballad isn’t the strongest song but that’s really the only down point of a highly impressive debut, the rest of the songs have it all, great riffs, catchy choruses, driven rhythms and crisp vocals. There is plenty of variety too, ’Late In the Game’ is subtler but features a great vocal and there’s no danger of you losing interest half way through the album. The more you play it in it's entirety the more it grows on you and the more impressive it becomes, it just works on every level.
A lot of people have tipped Freshman for some time and this release might just give them what they need to move up to the next level. Good stuff indeed.