With the candid Freedom, Amen Dunes seems to want to make himself known to the world. American Damon McMahon operated under that name mainly in the New York freak folk scene until now. On Freedom he not only found an enchanting and tense rock sound of his own, but he also does not make a murder hole of his heart. Themes are his mother's terminal illness and child abuse and the wrong friends he found
… on his way to adulthood. Special is the sonorous baritone voice with which McMahon overloads us with this suffering. He lets a recurring, angry vibrato sound through this that can sometimes send shivers down your spine. In a strong song like Time he almost sounds like an angry . Freedom is a homogeneously bleak album. Its strength is that the music remains exciting and it never goes over the top or falls into a valley of tears. (MR)more
