Fire From The Gods - American Sun
How can i relate to a world that i feel is broken? To the minds that i feel won't open? And how can i speak life when all i see is death?
I was gonna rag on the Grassroots, but then i heard "Right Now" by Fire From the Gods, and it's such a great song that i figured we should just listen to their album American Sun (just like i did for Volbeat). That's what a radio single is supposed to do, and it happens so rarely these days that i feel like i should point it out.
I haven't listened to it yet, so here are some of my expectations. I get a variety of vibes from Right Now: Sevendust, early Faith No More, a twinge of Linkin Park-y Nu Metal, but also a kind of TV On the Radio feeling of new sincerity. I've been listening to David Foster Wallace interviews the last couple of days so it's fresh in my mind. I don't think any of you are surprised that the lead singer is black. I've just listed all the musical nuances the single brings up in my mind and the overriding sense is that this is a generic djent band who wanted powerful melodic vocals rather than growling or screaming. I don't know if you know this, but that's a continuous phenomenon in rock, that back and forth between "bringing back pretty singing" and "getting mad and yelling." That's what shapes the evolution of mainstream rock and metal.
Enough dilly-dally. As The Arm (aka the little man) in the Red Room says, kcoR s'teL.
1. Rap, not a surprise. This is the prelude to the album, so what are the themes? War, cannibalism, children speaking wisdom, personal responsibility, power structures being torn down. This all seems right up my alley.
2. Man what a great song. The more i listen to it the more i hear the best parts of a lot of early 2000s emo-ish bands like Chevelle and Breaking Benjamin and The Used. Musically, that is. Lyrically this is much better and not at all mopey or self centered.
3. It's not just the word "refugee," there was a hint of that Jamaican dub flavor on the first track. The one thing that doesn't work is that the soft chorus is too soft. The horns are great, but he just pulls back too far. Not a bad song, though.
4. It's rap djent. It's much more appealing to me than most rap metal, probably because it sounds authentic. By that i mean, this is what they want to play, and they're good at it. Their choruses are stellar, just banging emotional grooves and
5. I'm not surprised there's a POD collab. Now, the Jamaican patois is really iffy territory (Snow, Shaggy, you know, iffy), but I'll reserve judgement until i actually look them up.
6. Meh. This is one of those tracks that will probably get better with repeat listening, but the initial impression is that it's just an intentional flip flop back to the metal side of the equation.
7. It's fine, but we're halfway through the album and we've lost all momentum. We aren't developing the theme, just still saying "i'm still fighting, i guess." We're just recycling the first two tracks and i'm losing interest.
8. I did feel it. I said so. Ok do it. Break it down. Go ahead. Feel what?
9. Trap? Really? Oh, you won already? 4 more tracks.
10. What happened in Philly in 1985? Oh, police dropped a bomb from a helicopter on the communal house of MOVE and destroyed the surrounding 64 houses in the process. They fought to defend that in court for 20 years? Are you serious? 2005 is when the city finally lost all the lawsuits against them. We aren't going to go into any of it, but the city of brotherly love bombed it's inhabitants for having smelly trash and radical political ideas. Either that's normal for 'merica, or that's really fucked up. You can't have it both ways, and you damned sure better not think the first one. Great song, but there's that patois again.
Spoiler alert, they don't tie it all together in the last 3 tracks. Disappointing. Break the cycle is a good epilogue, but we never got the actual guts of what the album wanted to be. It's 13 mostly good songs that merely identify and clarify an observation. Don't misunderstand me, it's an important point of view (the same one i've been working on every day for the last 5 years. But, we're already on the same page. You aren't giving me anything to work toward, and it ends up just being self affirming comfort music.
Let's see if the intertubenetweb can at least tell me where your accent is from. Ok, parents from Jamaica, Bronx to West Africa back to the Bronx and finally Austin. That at least clears up the in and out accents.
Just like i thought, it's a djent band of huge lineup changes that likes hip hop, and the overall attitude is be truthful about this country again. Be accountable. I like that.
I don't like this not actually an album stuff. That's not the band, it's a production problem. These guys are good, why can't they do something more than just write a bunch of potential radio anthems?
Sadly, that means it's not a good album. It's not fun to listen to, it has no arch or trajectory, it's just the same sentiment each time. I need more than that. Tell me what actual conflicts you have, give it some personal relevance. I know the question is "how" 'cause i led off with it. The implication was that you were going to at least try to answer it, but you didn't. Good stuff, it just goes in the "oh yeah i remember those guys" folder. That's a shame.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lGGavkPKBKFVhiDsqUbDVG2pPkkGWn0Vc
Next
I was gonna rag on the Grassroots, but then i heard "Right Now" by Fire From the Gods, and it's such a great song that i figured we should just listen to their album American Sun (just like i did for Volbeat). That's what a radio single is supposed to do, and it happens so rarely these days that i feel like i should point it out.
I haven't listened to it yet, so here are some of my expectations. I get a variety of vibes from Right Now: Sevendust, early Faith No More, a twinge of Linkin Park-y Nu Metal, but also a kind of TV On the Radio feeling of new sincerity. I've been listening to David Foster Wallace interviews the last couple of days so it's fresh in my mind. I don't think any of you are surprised that the lead singer is black. I've just listed all the musical nuances the single brings up in my mind and the overriding sense is that this is a generic djent band who wanted powerful melodic vocals rather than growling or screaming. I don't know if you know this, but that's a continuous phenomenon in rock, that back and forth between "bringing back pretty singing" and "getting mad and yelling." That's what shapes the evolution of mainstream rock and metal.
Enough dilly-dally. As The Arm (aka the little man) in the Red Room says, kcoR s'teL.
1. Rap, not a surprise. This is the prelude to the album, so what are the themes? War, cannibalism, children speaking wisdom, personal responsibility, power structures being torn down. This all seems right up my alley.
2. Man what a great song. The more i listen to it the more i hear the best parts of a lot of early 2000s emo-ish bands like Chevelle and Breaking Benjamin and The Used. Musically, that is. Lyrically this is much better and not at all mopey or self centered.
3. It's not just the word "refugee," there was a hint of that Jamaican dub flavor on the first track. The one thing that doesn't work is that the soft chorus is too soft. The horns are great, but he just pulls back too far. Not a bad song, though.
4. It's rap djent. It's much more appealing to me than most rap metal, probably because it sounds authentic. By that i mean, this is what they want to play, and they're good at it. Their choruses are stellar, just banging emotional grooves and
5. I'm not surprised there's a POD collab. Now, the Jamaican patois is really iffy territory (Snow, Shaggy, you know, iffy), but I'll reserve judgement until i actually look them up.
6. Meh. This is one of those tracks that will probably get better with repeat listening, but the initial impression is that it's just an intentional flip flop back to the metal side of the equation.
7. It's fine, but we're halfway through the album and we've lost all momentum. We aren't developing the theme, just still saying "i'm still fighting, i guess." We're just recycling the first two tracks and i'm losing interest.
8. I did feel it. I said so. Ok do it. Break it down. Go ahead. Feel what?
9. Trap? Really? Oh, you won already? 4 more tracks.
10. What happened in Philly in 1985? Oh, police dropped a bomb from a helicopter on the communal house of MOVE and destroyed the surrounding 64 houses in the process. They fought to defend that in court for 20 years? Are you serious? 2005 is when the city finally lost all the lawsuits against them. We aren't going to go into any of it, but the city of brotherly love bombed it's inhabitants for having smelly trash and radical political ideas. Either that's normal for 'merica, or that's really fucked up. You can't have it both ways, and you damned sure better not think the first one. Great song, but there's that patois again.
Spoiler alert, they don't tie it all together in the last 3 tracks. Disappointing. Break the cycle is a good epilogue, but we never got the actual guts of what the album wanted to be. It's 13 mostly good songs that merely identify and clarify an observation. Don't misunderstand me, it's an important point of view (the same one i've been working on every day for the last 5 years. But, we're already on the same page. You aren't giving me anything to work toward, and it ends up just being self affirming comfort music.
Let's see if the intertubenetweb can at least tell me where your accent is from. Ok, parents from Jamaica, Bronx to West Africa back to the Bronx and finally Austin. That at least clears up the in and out accents.
Just like i thought, it's a djent band of huge lineup changes that likes hip hop, and the overall attitude is be truthful about this country again. Be accountable. I like that.
I don't like this not actually an album stuff. That's not the band, it's a production problem. These guys are good, why can't they do something more than just write a bunch of potential radio anthems?
Sadly, that means it's not a good album. It's not fun to listen to, it has no arch or trajectory, it's just the same sentiment each time. I need more than that. Tell me what actual conflicts you have, give it some personal relevance. I know the question is "how" 'cause i led off with it. The implication was that you were going to at least try to answer it, but you didn't. Good stuff, it just goes in the "oh yeah i remember those guys" folder. That's a shame.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lGGavkPKBKFVhiDsqUbDVG2pPkkGWn0Vc
Next
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