Author's note: if you want to read the Spanish version, go here.
Debut albums are often a fascinating and mysterious
experience for us listeners. It’s fascinating because it’s always interesting
to listen to a band’s first output and see what they have to offer. On the
other hand, it’s a mysterious experience due to the fact that you don’t know
how the band is going to evolve from that point onwards–iconic and influential
albums like Metallica’s Kill ‘em All
or Death’s Scream Bloody Gore are
great examples of how a band can make great and intense music and later on
evolve to a very different sound.
While we cannot compare Fire and Flesh’s In Blood We Trust to those seminal works
because of several reasons, it’s important to point out that although this is a
pretty homogeneous album, musically speaking, there are still a few tidbits
that show that we are in the presence of a band that has even more to offer in
future albums and they know how to deliver the goods.
This band offers a very modern brand of extreme Metal,
so we all know what that means: a lot of powerful riffs, demon-like gutturals
and fast-paced drumming–we can assure that’s all there in this In Blood We Trust. The vocalist, Justin
Nieto, screams and shrieks his head off during the vast majority of the album; both
guitar players, Menendez and Smith, offer a lot of pounding riffs (and they are
not too shabby when it comes to soloing, as the one in the opening track, No Hope for the Cowards, will show you)
and the drummer, Vazquez Jr., is so fast that you would think that this is a machine,
in Ram-It-Down-fashion (I did, so I
checked to make sure he wasn’t).
One of the main traits of this album is its high pace;
the vast majority of the songs are all fast-paced and they pummel you with a
lot of intensity, with Nieto above the whole instrumentation like a beast
screaming from the depths of a forest. There are tracks like Consecrated when they decide to slow
things a bit and go for a more mid-tempo approach, adding a bit of rhythm and
melody to it, but without giving away the intensity–props to both guitar
players for the riffing and the great solo in this track. One of the high
points of this In Blood We Trust,
without a doubt.
Another main characteristic that you are going find in
this album is the use of many voice recordings before and after the songs,
mostly to transmit sociopolitical comments throughout the album. While it’s
always interesting to see a band’s stand on politics and society, I would have
to say that these interludes don’t add or take much from the album’s
overarching structure.
A personal favorite of yours truly is No Hope for the Cowards. Man, what an
opening track! After that subtle and effective introduction that is Signs of the Times, this is a great way
to kick start an album and let everyone know what this band is all about. As I
mentioned earlier, I think the solo in this track is really solid and it’s
going to stand out from the rest of the song from the first moment you hear it;
it’s always fun to listen to a guitar player shredding like the Menendez does
in this song.
I think the title track, which was also one of the
band’s teasers for the album before its release in 2017, is another strong case
for Fire and Flesh because it shows the band at their strongest: devastating
vocals, great guitar playing and drumming that would make Dave Lombardo proud.
In the chorus of this track you can hear their influences in a clearer manner:
it has a lot of that Bay Area sound going on (understandable, they are from the Bay Area), with vocals
reminiscent of Phil Anselmo’s mid to late 90s period.
Before concluding, I would like to point out the
quality of the album’s production. Since this was an independent release, I
have to say that every instrument sounds crystal clear and with certain grit to
it that makes an album of this ilk sound really, really well.
Overall, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys
a modern extreme Metal album, then this is a great choice for you because it
has all the things you want in a work of this nature. Perhaps the guys at Fire
and Flesh didn’t come to the Metal scene to innovate or to turn things upside
down, but they definitely came to do what they know best in great fashion and
this In Blood We Trust is a powerful,
violent and effective testimony of that.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario