Saturday, 31 August 2019

FIREBREATHER - Under A Blood Moon (Album Review)


Release date: September 27th 2019. Label: RidingEasy Records Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Under A Blood Moon – Tracklisting

1.Dancing Flames
2.Our Souls, They Burn
3.Closed Gate
4.Firebreather
5.We Bleed
6.The Siren

Members

Mattias Nööjd
Kyle Hagman
Axel Wittbeck

Review

Firebreather new album – Under A Blood Moon – sees the band signing to RidingEasy Records and returning with a more expansive and heavier sound. Perhaps closely influenced by Black Sabbath, High On Fire and Monolord, this album still sees the band forge their own way into the realm of Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal. This album is darker, heavier and more groove based than their excellent debut album.

This album contains 6 songs running around 50 minutes of intense riffage. The music and vocals impress from the start with Firebreather reaching a new level of maturity with the progressive sounds leading the way.

Opening song – Dancing Flames – is one of the standout songs on the album with the Psychedelic Grooves leading into High On Fire style pummelling guitar riffs and frantic drumming to match. The vocals are excellent with the right amount of aggression from the start. It’s also an added bonus that you can easily understand what the vocals are saying even when the harsh growls appear.

Second song – Our Souls They Burn – is perhaps the most Doom based son g contained on the album with a more gloomier outlook leading the way. This is another epic song for the band to tease your musical taste buds with. The atmosphere is quite intense with Firebreather unleashing another round of HELL with fresh sounding music that will leave you wanting more. 

The progression of different genres and melodies is the perfect answer to show you how far Firebreather have progressed since their celebrated debut album. As the band have a more threatening sound with the Psychedelic based atmosphere being one of the standout moments of the entire album.

The songs on this album vary in length from 7 mins to 10 mins Firebreather need that time to build a complete picture of modern sounding Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal.

Under A Blood Moon is an album that has a beginning, a middle and end where the band impress even further on songs such as Closed Gate, Firebreather and The Siren. Some people may complain that the album doesn’t take enough creative risks. However, this is an album that is built on RIFFS and in Firebreather’s case – BUSINESS IS BOOMING!!!

Under A Blood Moon has all the right ingredients to for a sure-fire best-seller and offers the listener a thrilling style of Progressive Sludge/Stoner Metal that will rank as one of the best albums of the year.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Dave at US/THEM PR for the promo. Under A Blood Moon will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via RidingEasy Records from Sept 27th 2019.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp