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Farewell to Freeway Appreciation Post

This band seriously needs some more love


Why?

Farewell to Freeway has been around for a long time now, and I think they near perfected every sound they had musically as band over the years. 

From the beginning they had the punk and hardcore influences to write some perfect Post-Hardcore. Their album "Between Yesterday and Today" definitely fit into that category of Post-Hardcore(it was produced by Justin Koop who also produced "When Broken is Easily Fixed" by Silverstein), but was a little more than just that, already with some experimentation on their first full-length and blurring of lines genre-wise. A standout song from that from that album would be the first track, "Disturbance" Very interesting choice to sprinkle in a tuba, yet it works well.



Their next two albums moved towards a more metalcore leaning sound, becoming a heavier plus more well-rounded band with the addition of another guitarist and a keyboard player. "Weekdays Seldom Wake to Victory" saw an increase in screaming vocals, and you can really hear tracks with interesting guitar licks and instrumentals on the intro & outro that are complex yet impressive, evidence of them all improving as musicians. A standout track from this album would be the self titled song. The breakdown still gives me chills.


The next release is the last one on their label, yet is when they really start refining their sound as band, every song off of "In These Wounds" is different and captivating, with heavy hitting riffs, and attention grabbing instrumentals, plus the vocals dynamic is really honed on these songs. These songs are too hard to choose between for a standout track but the band pushed "Promises of the Gods" as a single so check it out. The vocal harmonies almost seem out of place but it really pulls together in a chaotic way.



This next album is the golden ticket, in my mind they perfected the idea of metalcore with this record, not a single song on "Definitions" is forgettable nor disinteresting. From front to back these songs are filled to the brim with passion, emotion, and pure technical skill. They signed to Victory records and got to work, being produced by Eric Arena who worked on ADTR's "For Those Who Have Heart"(Another outstanding album) This is really hard one to choose one song off of, but I think a very good listening introduction for the band as whole is "Risk it All". The overall sound of this album is very uplifting, with encouragement of the listener to stand up to life and their fate into their own hands, and calls for introspection. The outro to the album is also a mind-blowing roller coaster of chorus, breakdown, and soaring guitar solo.



Their next release is a great follow-up to what I would say was their breakthrough album, "Only Time Will Tell" has more of a somber tone almost longing for the past or recollecting of times before, while still encouraging the listener that they have control their own fate and showing positive affirmation. Once again conveying lots of emotion through their music, this album really speaks to you if you listen enough. A standout track would be "Portrait"



Their final release saw a final change in the band's sound, going for a more hard-rock or less "core" metal sound. "Filthy Habits" yet once again keeping the listener on their toes with a constantly changing diverse lineup of tracks. My favorite off this album would be "Top Gun", it shows they can still write catchy choruses and lyrics to scream along to, along with technically impressive guitar work juxtaposed dead simple groovy guitar riffs.





In the end, these guys stopped seriously touring around ~2013, and played a single reunion show in their hometown of Guelph in 2017. They're technically still around, but not very active anymore sadly, still these guys deserve a lot more support and listens then they get imo. If you made it this far through all the reading, thankyou for hearing me out.


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