The Freqs – Poachers (EP)
Release Date: 3rd February 2023
Label: Independent
Bandcamp
Genre: Noise Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock, Post-Hardcore, Sludge Metal, Psychedelic Punk.
FFO: Black Sabbath, Tool, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Chat Pile, Melvins, Ken Mode.
Review By: Joe McKenna
Excruciating Sabbath worship blended with fuzz-ridden sludge with a psychedelic edge, Salem, Massachusetts natives The Freqs are a three-piece noise machine designed to deliver some of the nastiest and tripped out sounds in the styles of stoner doom, noise rock, psychedelic punk, sludge metal, and much more. The band were formed by guitarist/vocalist Seth Crowell and Bassist/Vocalist Ian Mandly in 2019, with drummer Zack Feirman joining in 2020. Earning a Best Rock Artist of the Year nomination in 2021 at the Boston Music Awards, it’s not hard to realise The Freqs talent for testing a variety of genres out from fuzzed out, high octane stoner rock medleys to more fringe musical experimentations that boarder on heavier sludge and hardcore territories. Dishing out another dose of their trademark high impact sonic overdrive, the power trio’s latest album Poachers is a fine marking in the band’s discography that proves an exciting and promising uprise for them.
It’s quite impressive how each of the songs on this album are able to shift their stylistic traits in both a subtle and menacing way. You’ve got these harshly fuzz-lead guitar lines that produce nasty doom-entrenched riffs in attacking form, the Sabbath style riffs that boarder on that modern psych sound more on the level of King Gizzard or Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and roaring tempos that split between a stoner doom trudge to ferocious hardcore swiftness. Opening tracks contain much of these elements throughout, Poacher Gets The Tusk begins with a blues driven fuzzed out riff that increases the intensity as it is amplified throughout its runtime. Powertrippin’ goes one step further to try and push these sonic limits with noisy guitar and bass passages, speedy rhythmic density, and harshly applied vocal accompaniment.
At the other end of things, there are periods of suspense and apprehension that leaves room for more progressive instrumentation to be employed. Asphalt Rivers is a more slow-paced, dense track that relies on sludgy, jarring riffs and chanted vocal lines to increase the tension within the song’s atmosphere. Sludge Rats offers a particularly interesting blend between these bluesy doom riffs and some other psychedelic pathways of exploration that are imbued with a punk-like edge, the song builds into a final feedback-infused climax that just attacks your eardrums.
In the final moments of this wild record, you are greeted by the sharp, jagged edge of Crowell’s guitar parts and his vicious vocal accompaniments with Mandly that vary on levels again similar to Sabbath as well as excerpts of Tool and Dinosaur Jr. Chase Fire, Caught Smoke for instance takes a slick approach to the classic stoner doom instrumental approach whilst it is also flooded with a blend of both Ozzy-esque and hardcore-style screams and fuzz guitar melodies that are played with more and more brute force the longer they go on. The final track, the band’s single Witch is a great way to end this record. Inspired by Rebecca Nurse, a descendent of Crowell and a woman who was hanged during the Salem Witch Trials, this track dissects the violent and delusional beliefs of the accusers who unjustly demands a woman’s execution for denying his advances claiming her to be a witch. Witch shifts between noise rock verses that offer discordant madness with some quite catchy fills, most notably in that outro.
It appears that with Poachers, The Freqs have certainly set a new bar of excellence and credibility and each of these musicians should be proud of their contributions. One should not overlook this band in the future as they seem to be making a name for themselves in numerous musical circles with their melding of various genres to make a fast-paced, energetic musical experience. For the time being, it is worth keeping tabs on this band and fans of doom, noise and psyche music in particular, The Freqs are definitely creating a buzz. 
(4.5 / 5)
