Compilation albums such as the “best of” a particular band rarely make their way into my metal collection. However, every once in a great while I make the leap to get one of a band I’ve always been interested in, but never took the initiative to purchase or get a good listen to any of their albums. Freedom Call’s newest album is a great compilation of their greatest hits spanning their 15 years that they have been a part of the power metal circuit. If you’re someone like me who hasn’t actually delved into a Freedom Call album before, this best of album should be right up anyone’s alley, as it has some really great hits, and is downright one of the most fun compilation albums I’ve had the pleasure of listening to in recent recollection.

Now I have to be completely honest, power metal hasn’t been my most favorite of genres. Sometimes it’s a bit hard for me to get over the extreme high pitch singing, but I’ve always found the guitar and instrument work to be nonetheless very solid with most bands that I listen to. Freedom Call has put together an absolute fantastic number of songs that most hardcore fans of the band will come to agree that they are indeed the most memorable the band has written.

Originally Freedom Call was formed by Daniel Zimmerman (member of Gamma Ray), and Chris Bay, who were longtime friends. Chris Bay is still the only remaining member today and has stacked some pretty marvelous songs under his direction. 15 years of service to the metal public is no easy feat, and at the dawn of this great compilation album, it has to feel pretty grand to have made it this far.

Along with all the wonderful tracks this album is graced with, there are two songs that are live on the first disc that include their well-known songs Metal Invasion and A Perfect Day. Both sound absolutely astronomical in the live recording. What I was most impressed with the live tracks was the outstanding live vocal performances that sounded almost exact to the album. There are a lot of bands that simply cannot recreate their studio style recorded vocals live, but Freedom Call sounds fantastic and their musicianship is pretty impressive.

A lot of the enjoyable moments from this compilation album came from all the incredibly appealing choruses that coat almost every song. The second disc comes with five songs that are different versions of some of their most popular songs including such features as a metal folk version of Metal Invasion and a rather strange reggae version of Mr. Evil. I’ll be completely honest that I did not spend much time listening to the second disc despite really enjoying the sixth track which is a completely acoustic and vocal version of their self-titled song Freedom Call which is undeniably beautiful.

If you have ever wanted to give Freedom Call a shot, this best of compilation album is a great find, as it is very enjoyable from start to finish. The second disc might be a little hard to stomach, despite the last track, but overall this album is a great recap of Freedom Call’s most successful songs. 15 years of music deserves huge congratulations to the band.