Review Summary: Another candidate for album of the Year. They should win best new act though only Bad Omens comes close.
Been doing some hunting of late, searching for new tasty and delicious morsels to sink my fangs into (Music hunts, not anything more), found 9Elecctric a few days back but someone pointed me in another direction, telling me that I would see a most delicious morsel there (Thank you Google+), I took the advice and found a truly delicious morsel even though their name puts the fear of burns topmost in your mind. 'Fire From The Gods', the name alone should strike fear into the heart of any hunter but I took a plunge and had no regrets, upon feasting on 'Narrative'.
'Fire From The Gods' is a Rock band from Austin Texas formed in 2007, what's cool about them is how they have fused some of the most interesting metal genres and other music genres to form a unique style, there's metalcore, hardcore, rapcore and some reggae. That's some crazy ish if i may say, it's like fusing Skindred, Linkin Park, P.O.D and Sevendust with a sprinkling of Ice Nine Kills.
Though they have had some line up changes earlier, the prominent one being the departure of vocalist Eric July (Eric's new band is Backwordz), his replacement AJ Channer seems to have filled his shoes perfectly. The current line up is made up of AJ Channer - Vocals, Jameson Teat - Guitar, Drew Walker - Guitar, Bonner Baker - Bass and Richard Wicander - Drums. They are currently signed to Rise Records and their debut album 'Narrative' was released on the 26th of August 2016.
'Narrative' is a tremendously good debut from the band, it had only 10 tracks but I loved everything about the album, all the songs were splendid , it was well produced with spectacular instrumentation, awesome vocals and had relate-able lyrics and messages(I am all about the lyrics and message). The hype is real you will be burned, in a good way though.
'Narrative' started off with a hard hitting track 'Public Enemy' the talks about racial discrimination and it's adverse effects on the society and the labeling of minorities, very powerful message and lyrics here, but you may be thrown off track by the awesome drumming of Richard Wicander on the track. AJ Channer also introduces himself in this track by giving us a feel of how one can meld rapping, screaming and singing in one song. A powerful way to start off the album.
The second 'End Transmission' was much more mellow with AJ only singing, the song is also one of their singles with a cool video. Cool and uplifting,with lyrics such as "I suggest you walk this lonely road, To find redemption and become a hero" delivered in AJ's cool and smooth voice. The instrumentation in the song as in the first is the key component and makes it a more enjoyable experience.
This brings us to another single and the third track of the album 'Excuse Me', this also happens to be my best track on the album, here all the band's best features were shown and it's reggae, metalcore and rap fusion took the front rows. AJ's vocals here were top notch and he made the song spectacular, shifting from screams to rap to reggae to singing in smooth transitions, it was completely insane. The song is so anthemic i kept in on repeat for a while. The message and lyrics in the song are spectacular. "Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, equality and justice for all, now you know you lying, You on that shutgun philosophy" that's just a tip of the lyrical message, a few of which were aimed at the police, no need to elaborate further, this song will go well in any "Life Matters" rally. The next song 'Composition' seems to continue from where 'Excuse Me' stopped a very nice combo of songs. The tempo drops a little with the next track 'Evolve' which is also another stand out track that talks about coming out of the shadows of our leaders, another lyrically heavy song delivered powerfully in AJ's smooth voice.
All the songs in the album delivered in one way or the other, be it lyrically, vocally or musically, the album also has one of the best closing songs of the year in my opinion. 'Into The Blue' was a spectacular way to crown off the album. A deep song laden with some pretty intense, profound and heavy lyrical content.
Fire From The Gods is my best new act of the year as far as 2016 is concerned and 'Narrative' is one of the best albums of the year in my perspective. I highly reccomend them, to all metalcore, rapcore and rock fans in total, you will not be disappointed with their sound or their style. Please Check them out. Help them get the publicity they totally deserve.
Cheers.
