An album release from death_on_impact delivers several approaches that give me bouts of nostalgia. It takes this hardcore element and blends it in with a 90s underground alternative and emo style that come together and not only hit massively hard but push this Sonic drive and intensity that you can't turn away from.
The I Believe In Fire album has a crazy energy to it. It feels almost like these tracks were recorded live on the floor, like they were tracked in the moment as they performed them together, and everyone involved was feeding off of each other's energies the entire time, letting the songs come through with this high-impact approach.
That intensity level is one of the most important aspects of this whole record.
It's one of the elements that pulls you right in because these songs have some emotional backbone to them which is what wraps itself around you a lot of the time.
This aspect also gives the record a lot of personality which is something I also love about it.
These tracks come off as honest and even a bit vulnerable even though there's a lot of fire and edginess behind the tonality of it all.
You can tell that there was a lot of attention to detail when this record was put together, but it never loses this personality or this heart that it really pushes and that might be the most important aspect of the entire thing.
The guitars are amazing. They are performed in such a fashion that it adds this vastness and spaciousness to the song's tones and soundscapes which is something that lets you get engulfed by everything you're hearing.
The drumming is stellar as well. This is the element that not only adds the drive but also adds a bit of liveliness and lets the songs come through feeling like they are alive and breathing.
This also helps put you in the moment while you're listening to them.
When you listen to this album, it kind of pulls you away from wherever you are and whatever you are doing and puts you in this whole other place for a bit.
You get sucked into the record and it's because of that high energy and intensity level that you do.
Listening to the record makes you want to watch it performed live simply because if you can capture this kind of energy on record then seeing it performed live in your face must be amazing.
I certainly love hearing a band on record and immediately knowing that they're going to be an amazing live band. This record is a perfect example of exactly that.
There's not a lot of cookie-cutter elements to these songs. They are a bit outside the box but do have great Arrangements that let them remain very memorable and even boast several hooks a lot of the time.
Still, this is a really heavy combination of edginess and personality which is something that gives you a lot to hold on to.
It's definitely heavy but not in a metal sense of the word.
It's alternative rock and a little bit of hardcore with a fusion of other heavy rock subgenres involved but it's got its own atmosphere, and I think that's the important thing.
The songs feel almost like chapters in someone's life. They play through like acts of a play or scenes of a film.
This was a completely massive record, and it has a progressive and blistering approach that really hits hard in the best ways possible.
Now, as far as I can tell, this is actually done by one person by the name of Rex McCreight who has most certainly written everything and likely performed a lot of it as well.
This is even crazier to me because of what I mentioned earlier. The way the songs feel like they're live in the moment with all that intensity and energy fluctuation.
Amazingly, he's able to put this all together and bring songs like this to fruition.
This was a deepening album with layers to it and it was surprisingly fun to peel these layers back as the album unfolds.
I would definitely suggest listening to this record from beginning to end because only then can you soak in all the meaning and the different approaches, layers, textures, and soundscape it actually has to offer.
It's a bit of a roller coaster but it's super fun.
This is most certainly for people who love any sort of heavy music whether it's hardcore, metal, post-hardcore, garage rock, or grunge, this album encompasses tons of that stuff.
Turn this up and remember where you heard it first.
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