Review Summary: A album composed of good music, but extremely repetitive, and very similar to the likes of Killswitch Engage. Recommended only for longtime metalcore fans.
Metalcore is a well-respected and much-loved genre. From the intense screams of Trivium to the wailing guitars of Avenged Sevenfold, metalcore is the genre of many talented artists. However, some of these bands sound very similar. A Dozen Furies could be mistaken for Killswitch Engage if someone doesn’t know exactly what they’re listening to. The guitars, drumming, and even the vocals sound nearly identical.
A Dozen Furies was born in the same place Flyleaf started – Texas. Although their career was short, it was successful. They won the MTV Battle for Ozzfest, in which a member from eight bands (Marc Serrano for ADF) battled it out to gain a spot in the Ozzfest, grab a bunch of Gibson Guitars equipment, and land a record deal. Unfortunately, they didn’t finish their short-lived career on the same note.
The beginning of
A Concept From Fire rips a page straight out of Trivium’s
Ascendancy, by opening up with a near pointless one-minute instrumental filler, leaving a false impression that this is some kind of progressive metal epic. From then on, it might as well be a single song with slightly changing riffs and constant drumming, because the album is basically displaying that. The music is good. I’ll tell you that. The riffs are a great mix of wailing high notes to palm-muted, pounding Drop-D chords. The drumming also makes great use of the cymbals, with perfectly timed crashes and excellent use of the snare. Many people may have difficulty with the vocals however, which seem to falter in the early stages of the album, with weak screams making up entire songs, almost relying on the crunching guitars and pounding drums to keep the song from bombing. Also, bass is virtually unheard. No signs, whatsoever. It’s all about the guitar, the vocals, and the drums.
There is a song that breaks away from the repetitiveness of the album.
The Cycle has unique elements that stand out from all songs on
A Concept from Fire. In
The Cycle, which is the single from the album (good choice), took the layout from the record, put it in a bowl, and whipped out the automatic egg beater. When the songs will usually be done in the general pop-punk format (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, end),
The Cycle starts with it’s chorus, breaks out into the verse, and seems to have (as ridiculous as it sounds) two choruses, and a bridge doesn’t seem to be present. Unfortunately, neither does an awesome ground breaking solo that would give this album that nice boost.
While we’re on the topic of
The Cycle, let’s look at how A Dozen Furies tributes Slayer’s violent themes. I’m not sure of what the song is necessarily about, but the chorus consists of the line, “you can’t bleed enough to please my eyes!” Well, someone’s pissed. And it’s well sung as well, with possibly the best performance put on by Bucky on the entire album. The guitars are also at their finest, with appropriate changes in tempo that flow well, and go perfectly with the (again) great drumming.
After the incredible performance put on in
The Cycle, we go back to the near identical songs that
A Concept From Fire is composed of, with an exception during
The Ill Will, the outro to the album, which is just an extended version of
The Gift, with chirping birds in the background.
Overall,
A Concept from Fire isn’t a great album, but if you’re still waiting for the Killswitch Engage release coming out this November and can’t wait that long, then I do recommend this. If you’re not one of those people though, download
The Cycle and you’ll pretty much have all you really need.
Score: 2.5/5
Recommended Track(s)
The Cycle
