“Stairway To Fairyland” was one of my top favorite albums of the previous decade, so it seems only natural that I should pursue Freedom Call’s sophomore effort, “Crystal Empire”. In my review for their debut album, I lauded them for their unique heroic epic-metal sound, with aural interpretations of fantasy-scapes and concepts such as the struggle between good and evil. Wagner has met Metallica, and the unapologetic result is Freedom Call.

Once again the drummer has concocted a fairy tale upon which the album is based. The literal sequel to “Fairyland”, Crystal Empire finds the Taragonian refugees at their destination, the Kingdom of the Sun. However, things are not all well in this fantastical new world, as a great menace who already resides there seeks The Eyes of the World, stones of power which he can use to gain total control over the place. The new Taragonian king must now face his first challenge in questing to find these stones before fell powers do. If the story behind the music sounds epic in its scope, it is nothing compared to the music. This is power metal at its finest, with loud, fast guitar playing; backed up by a full choir. If you’ve seen the cover art, well…the music sounds just how the art looks complete with Vikings.

However, I can’t help but be a little disappointed by this album. Though the sound is definitely Freedom Call, they take some steps away from the style of the first album. No longer are they using church bells or organs to contribute to their epic fantasy sound, and conspicuously absent is their vocalists soaring lyrics. Much to my chagrin, they seem content to let the choir be the driving force behind most of the songs on this album, which changes the band’s sound considerably. It tends to put the focus more on the guitar playing, which is in fantastic form and does an extremely fine job of making the choir sound interesting.

Still, if you liked the first album, chances are you’ll find Freedom Call’s second offering to be worth a look; just don’t go in expecting it to be very much like their first one. Their trademark sound is still in full force here, but the lack of distinctive vocals on the majority of the songs is very telling after they knocked their debut album out of the ballpark. It’s possible the band intended this more as a concept album; the music certainly ties in closer with the story. Hopefully they will have gone back to their original powerful vocals on their third album.