Review Summary: Epic single release from a promising thrash groove metal Norwegian band for the fans of Lamb Of God and Machine Head
DOPPELGANGER is the latest single from the Norwegian band Fierce Justice. Accompanied with a music video the song is the first glance of Fireborn, an upcoming album from the heavy metal quintet.
Fierce Justice is an emerging band, but they did their homework. The act chose unrelenting heavy metal as their primary course, say Gojirian slash Mastodontian metal united with the pathos and storytelling of heavy metal masters like Iron Maiden and Pantera.
Doppelganger is pretty straightforward groove metal, based upon a classic chugging riff straight from the Machine Head textbook. A lot of attention is focused on vocals and deservingly so – David possesses some impressive pipes. From the chorus part, we can notice how natural vocal approaches switch from singing to almost Tom Araya’s screaming.
The nice touch about the track is the mid-section breakdown bridge, painted with guitar variations. Short but compelling.
Overall Doppelganger is an impressive number for a debut, from a new band out there. It’s a pure heavy metal classic, combining the more extreme aspects of the genre such as faster tempos and dynamic beats with top quality production and certain scandinavian charisma. One might draw parallels with The Shining (collective behind Blackjazz) in terms of combining the harsh metal riffing and execution with melodic structures and implementing more creative singing.
I must also note the guitar solo here that is worth the absolute best standards in the industry – and how playfully it lands into an isolated riff of the bridge.
The band is well aware of it’s stronger parts and exploits them to both its own and listeners' benefit, doubling down on the chorus with a little extra in the drums department.
Fierce Justice made a solid first impression and chose one hell of a fitting moniker – let’s see how Fireborn turns out, but I am waiting for it for sure.
