Review: Hinder – Welcome to the Freakshow

Artist: Hinder
Album: Welcome to the Freakshow
Rating: 4/5

Tracklist:

1. Save Me
2. Ladies Come First
3. Shoulda Known Better
4. Freakshow
5. Talk to Me
6. Get Me Away from You
7. Is It Just Me
8. I Don’t Wanna Believe
9. See You In Hell
10. Anyone But You
11. Wanna Be Rich

First off, I want to thank Chief Music Management for giving me the opportunity to review this album! “Welcome to the Freakshow” is right! With 3 albums under their belt, 5-piece rock outfit Hinder return to the scene with the follow-up to 2010’s “All American Nightmare” which was by far one of their best albums to date. That being said, “Welcome to the Freakshow” is even better! Austin’s vocals are on point, Mark and Joe shred like they’ve been known to, and of course, where would the rhythm be if not for Mike’s bass lines and Cody’s drum skills? Yes sir, “Welcome to the Freakshow” will take you into a circus show and leave you wanting more!

Key Tracks:

Save Me: The first single from the album, it’s great to see that the band can still get this heavy. Basically, this track’s message is to live your life, only one can judge and that’s the only one you should worry about. It strikes me as odd, though, that there is a message like this and I will hit on why on a later track. I guess it gives a yin-yang effect? I don’t know. I do know that this is one of my favorite tracks.

Shoulda Known Better: A classic repeated mistake track. Who has had a woman that they ended up hating to the bone but constantly gone back to her? This is a shoutout to that situation. Every guy’s been through it and many more will later in their lives. This is one of the more ballad-like tracks on the album. It had me singing along after the 2nd listen of the album.

I Don’t Wanna Believe: Another classic theme. He’s afraid that the relationship will take a bad turn, but not so scared as to give it a shot. This is easily my favorite song lyrically on the album. The lyrics are beautiful. “I’ve never had a taste of heaven without a little hell to pay.” “I don’t wanna break you, I don’t wanna make you disappear.” It’s lyrics like this that keep the passion in a song like this alive.

See You In Hell: Remember my overview of “Save Me”? Well, this is the complete opposite of that track. This song basically says, if there’s a hell, who’s to say we aren’t all going there anyway? So live it up, do what you want because you only have one life to live. Live it to the fullest with no regrets! This one has a lot of fun lyrics to it.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I give this album a solid 4 stars. It’s an incredible piece of history and I believe that any Hinder fan will enjoy it. As well as those who are just discovering the band! I will definitely be purchasing this album and can only hope that the next album will be better! This one just sort of leaves something to be desired that was only present in their first album. I can’t quite place it but this album by NO means is a bad album. I would recommend buying it. Check it out for yourself! It hits stores tomorrow!