{"id":72657,"date":"2024-02-14T19:48:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T00:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=72657"},"modified":"2024-02-18T14:54:38","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T19:54:38","slug":"freakshow-so-shall-it-be-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2024\/freakshow-so-shall-it-be-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Freakshow | So Shall It Be"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Dan Skiba <\/span>
\u2014 Guest Columnist \u2014<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

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Freakshow is a supergroup headed up by Ronnie Borchert (aka Markus Allen Christopher), the leader of an outstanding Hard Rock band called M!SS CRAZY.\u00a0 Freakshow originally started out with Borchert, Jeff LaBar (Cinderella guitarist), Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot drummer), and Tony Franklin (bassist from The Firm and many others) and released their self-titled debut the better part of a decade ago.\u00a0 Their debut, although receiving a collective positive critical reception, never got the traction it deserved, and Freakshow as a supergroup got tucked away in Hard Rock limbo, especially after the death of Frankie Banali.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But lo and behold, 2023 brings the resurrection of Freakshow with a whole new supergroup line-up accompanying Borchert.  Namely, Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo, Metal Church drummer Stet Howland, and Badlands bassist Greg Chaisson.  On the surface, there seems to be all of the right ingredients necessary to make a significant stamp on the Hard Rock community \u2026 more specifically unique talent, proven experience, and ample time to regroup (pun intended).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cutting to the chase, Borchert and his Freakshow cohorts have released their sophomore effort entitled So Shall It Be.  <\/em>Quite frankly, despite a warm garage band sound, the album comes up short of what you\u2019d expect from such amazing and veteran talent.  On the positive side, there are some solid vocal harmonies and notable guitar work (check out \u201cYou Shine\u201d and the instrumental \u201cFull On Shred\u201d), but there are really no powerhouse riffs or sing-along choruses to get you hooked in or energize you.  Disappointingly, what you get is a lot of so-so end products that aren\u2019t mixed particularly well and offer little to the listener to warrant coming back after the first spin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Perhaps if Freakshow\u2019s current roster remains intact and they have more of an opportunity to \u201cgel\u201d together, then they\u2019ll rightly make that deep footprint on the Hard Rock community you\u2019d expect to hear.  But unfortunately, that\u2019s not happening with the So Shall It Be<\/em> release.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Genre:  Hard Rock, Garage Band Rock<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Release Date:  October 27, 2023<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Label:\u00a0 Eonian Records<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Track Listing:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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  1. Get It Ready<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  2. Wendi<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  3. You Shine<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  4. So Shall It Be<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  5. M.S.M.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  6. Tell Me You Love Me<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  7. Full On Shred<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  8. It Hurts Me<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  9. Ice Cold Hands<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  10. Lovin\u2019 You, Lovin\u2019 Me<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Roster:
    Ronnie Borchert \u2013 Vocals and Guitar
    Carlos Cavazo \u2013 Guitar
    Greg Chaisson \u2013 Bass
    Stet Howland \u2013 Drums<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Website:  https:\/\/www.eonianrecords.com<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 5 size=20]<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Dan Skiba \u2014 Guest Columnist \u2014 Freakshow is a supergroup headed up by Ronnie Borchert (aka Markus Allen Christopher), the leader of an outstanding Hard Rock band called M!SS CRAZY.\u00a0 Freakshow originally started out […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":72660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10102,2317,353,10390,16141,10163,1103,15055,16014],"class_list":{"0":"post-72657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music-reviews","8":"tag-carlos-cavazo","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-eonian-records","11":"tag-freakshow","12":"tag-garage-band-rock","13":"tag-greg-chaisson","14":"tag-hard-rock","15":"tag-ronnie-borchert","16":"tag-so-shall-it-be"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}