GMU Pop Culture Journalism

Alt Press Critic Phil Freeman

Admittedly, I could not think of a well known metal critic off the top of my head. Whenever I read an album review, I usually go to Alternative Press. So after looking through their album reviews over the last few months, it looks like Phil Freeman does a lot of the heavier records.

In his profile, he calls himself an “aging headbanger” who covered metal for AP before they wanted to cover metal. He definately has the I-dont-care-about-what-other-people-think-because-I’m-a-metalhead attitude (“You might even see me at a show; I’ll be the old guy leaning against the back wall, making fun of your haircut and checking out your girlfriend’s ass”).

Freeman’s first review I came across was on “Monument,” a record by Miss May I.

He praised the band’s talent, style and originality but made fun of their awful name, saying the band “dished out metal in a style that could have gotten them slots opening for Arch Enemy or In Flames—if only their name wasn’t so terrible.”

Another review I liked was of “Collisions & Castaways” by 36 Crazyfists (mostly because I feel the same way about this overrated band). In true metalhead fashion, he does not shy away from how he really feels about the album. “Indeed, there’s almost nothing to help you tell 36 Crazyfists’ songs apart from those of their peers,” he says. “One or two headbang-worthy riffs (“Trenches” has one; so does the Deserter”) can’t rescue the band’s fifth album from faceless ordinariness.”

Next time, Mr. Freeman, tell us what you really think.

Tags: 36 crazyfists, Alternative Press, Metal, miss may i, phil freeman