By Matt Haynes
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'Heavy Metal Happycore' Official Music Video
Picture this scene:
30-ish year-old geezer sat in his front room, warm fire on the go because the British weather is colder than Frosty the Snowman’s snowballs and eating some cheese left over from the vast quantity of blocks stored in the fridge from the festive season. As he bites into another chunk of mature cheddar, the phone pings.
‘We have a new review request come through! Anyone fancy taking it?’ appears in the Get Heavy group chat. Storing the cheese in my cheek like a little hamster, I type back that I’ll take it on. I tap open the link sent and prepare myself for what’s to come.
The track: ‘Heavy Metal Happycore’ by German power metallers Freedom Call (hats off to being my first new musical discovery of 2026! Even though they’ve been around since 1998…I’m behind on the times OK, don’t hate me) with the guest appearance of Ensiferum’s Petri Lindroos
‘Happycore? In Heavy Metal? Not in my classic genre that has stood the test of time! In my days, Heavy Metal was all about that red fella Stan and his best friend Eddie!’ the imaginary old man from across the moon shouts at me as he sits in the same black t-shirt and studded belt from 40 years ago.
The name is one that piques the interest alone. Just what are we expecting from such a track?
When the track began…I simply didn’t know whether I should stand and salute an invisible force, crack out my best interpretation of the Irish Riverdance…or both. I wasn’t prepared for the jolly, bubbly vibes to be blasting in my ears…although you’d think a track called ‘Heavy Metal Happycore’ would be a key in knowing what was coming my way (but then in my defence, with modern music you could have a track named ‘Sparkles The Rainbow Pooping Unicorn’ and it can be the filthiest deathcore track in the world…)
Combining elements of traditional Heavy Metal and snippets of Folk Metal, we have a track that’s full of bubble and plenty of hooks in between. The ability to grab the listener from the beginning is no problem for the group as they throw into a track that will have you bopping along in your front room as well as chanting back ‘HAPPYCORE HAPPYCORE!’ during the choruses.
‘With the overwhelming images of our great audience in mind, we set about writing a song that immediately engages the listener and brings out all the typical elements of our musical style. A song that finally lets us rise to a new era of happy metal, the HAPPYCORE!’ says frontman Chris Bay – something that has easily been done with this track with is (also in the band’s words) a superlative to the music name ‘Happy Metal’. This is further demonstrated in the accompanying video where we see the band performing the track to their fans, all with smiles on their faces and just having a gosh darn good old time
This track is one that helps show Heavy Metal can be just as colourful and fun as any other genre, and that Freedom Call are on the road to bring ‘Happy Metal’ to the ears of fans on a more global scale. It was definitely a refreshing start to the year of 2026 reviews for myself and gave me a boost of energy that was needed after eating WAY too much cheese
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