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| Damn Freaks are a hard rock band from Italy formed in 2017 by drummer Matteo Panichi, the band releasing their self titled debut album later the same year. Sophomore album 'Love In Stereo' emerged in 2020, followed by third album (simply titled) '3' in 2023... | ||||||
| ...although I think the album title may be stylised "III" - however, I have gone for "3", as this is how the number three appears on the album cover! Surfacing every three years with new material, the band has undergone a number of line-up changes - the current line-up featuring founder Panichi along with bass player Claudio Rogai, guitarist Alex De Rosso (Faithsedge, ex Dokken), and singer Giulio Garghentini (Dark Horizon). The bands sound is energetic and up tempo, reminding me of legendary rock bands Cinderella, Motley Crue, Ratt, and Slaughter. '3' is ten songs and forty hard rocking minutes, Damn Freaks opening the album at pace with the bombastic heavy hitter 'The Land Of Nowhere'. Pummelling listeners with an abrasive, raw-like aura, 'The Land Of Nowhere' is a punchy, power driven hard rocker that hits the sweet spot with incredible accuracy! | ||||||
| Accuracy that remains on point, the band more energetic for 'Where Is Love', actually hitting harder than the album opener - which I didn't think was even possible! However, Damn Freaks emphatically prove me wrong, 'Where Is Love' oozing oomph and oof in abundance. The opening double salvo has ignited the airways, the band revelling in the red hot atmosphere they've just created, sizzling with energy and panache, the punches flowing freely like a waterfall, 'Walking In The Sand' picking up pace and planting a "foot on the monitor", bending the heavy metal boundary as it attracts metalheads into the Damn Freaks soundscape. And just like many, if not all the pioneering hard rock bands from the eighties, Damn Freaks are delivering metal edged rock, proudly standing on the bridge between the genres of hard rock and heavy metal. A bridge I've spent most of my life on, as well as the thrash, power and symphonic metal ones - but right here right now it's all about the rock, 'My Resurrection' maintaining the incredibly high energy level, pounding the ground hard, shaking buildings to their foundations to leave only dust and rubble in its wake! | ||||||
| The breathless nature of the album so far has been phenomenal, Damn Freaks delivering one of the years biggest surprises in terms of just how fucking hard the band hit! And as is the norm for any rock album, a power ballad enters the fray - 'You Ain't Around' introducing a mellowness not heard before! The air of serenity is spine tingling, every listener, fan, follower and concert goer gently swaying from side to side with lighters held high. Every song on offer clocks in at around four minutes or less in length, paving the way for a quick moving album - so quick moving it's hard to catch a breath! And with more swagger than American rock legends Aerosmith, 'Damn Burning Mercy' stomps the ground hard, bringing to the fore a touch of Southern rock, the band striding all around rock territory, offering a wide array of styles. Yet whatever style Damn Freaks choose, it's loaded to the brim with energy and oomph, 'My Time Has Gone' a heart pounding slab of mid tempo thunder! Did I just say mid tempo? 'Cause with a shake of my head in disbelief and shame, the band change up a gear to a canter, 'My Time Has Gone' a pace changing, tempo switching romp of all out rock! | ||||||
| The intensity and overall attractiveness of '3' has been nothing short of all encompassing, the band doing everything within their power to enthral and excite listeners, keeping a tight hold on everyone's attention - not letting go for a single second! The swagger from earlier returns to the fore in the mighty shape of 'Nothing's True', maintaining the incredible foot tapping, head nodding activity that's been prevalent since minute one song one - the tapping and nodding taking on a more vigorous nature from time to time. And with the biggest old school feel of any song on offer, 'Crazy Ride' is a glorious reminder of hard rock's formative years (the eighties for anyone who still doesn't know), when the likes of Van Halen, Ratt, Poison and (of course) Aerosmith were shaping the genre's sound - a sound that lives on in the hearts of the Italian rockers Damn Freaks, even after forty years have passed! Were any of the band actually alive during the eighties? I know I was - the eighties was when, as a young teenager, my love affair with metal and rock began - a love affair that's lasted over four decades! And with bands such as Damn Freaks around, my love affair ain't ever gonna end anytime soon! '3' is brought to a close with the hardest hitting song on offer - 'Walking The Wire' bristling with venom and (mild) aggression. Yet the band are extremely melodic too, ending the album with razzmatazz! Now there's a word I haven't heard in ages! | ||||||
| Overall, hard rocking, heavy hitting and punchy, '3' is an irresistible and "can't stop listening to" album of all out hard rock. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Reviewed for Damn Freaks | ||||||
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