For a brief, shining moment, Vancouver's
Sons of Freedom (named after the nudist sect) were absolutely the loudest thing in all of Canada and their debut album featured enough volume and metallic crunch to attract the attention of Los Angeles label Slash. It wasn't precisely heavy metal, though, as it contained a lot of fierce punk snarling, in much the same manner as labelmates
Faith No More did at the time. Unlike
Chuck Mosley's yelping bark, however, the Sons' Jim Newton actually sang somewhat (though his voice was still the point of much debate). The first three tracks of the album are nearly perfect, and most of the rest of the album comes pretty darned close. One of the high watermarks of Canadian hard rock, the album still sounds fresh and challenging. ~ Sean Carruthers