Reviews: The Fire Still Burns - The Fire Still Burns
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xCore Reviewsx (http://s9.invisionfree.com/undergroundreview/index.php?s=b8a52942b945cd6bc4b83ed40d59e8c7&act=idx)
The Fire Still Burns are here with an awesome little self-titled album that is surely going to raise some eyebrows amongst the slowly fading Punk scene. It's about time the scene gets a breath of some fresh air. TFSB plays a perfect blend of anthemic Punk Rock and Hardcore that is somewhat reminiscent of the older bands like Dag Nasty, Bad Religion and The Damned, and even Bold or Youth of Today.
There are only 2 songs featured on this vinyl 7' and it clocks in at 6:19 to be exact, but you'll definitely be enjoying yourself for that short amount of time if you're into this type of stuff. There are fast, melodic riffs and chugging drums all the way through, a very good, angsty, and straight forward message, and overall good musical precision. This is classic stuff right here that'll have the whole crowd singing along and moving around the floor.
TFSB's Vocalist Alf Bartone kinda reminds me of Bad Religion's vocalist Greg Graffin with the high and deeply toned shouted/sung vocals and melodic flow with the music. He sounds good, and he just flows greatly with the music.
It's a short release so I'm making this a short review, but the bottomline is: TFSB have a good little 7' here, especially for the genre they fall under. It's just catchy, fast, and aggressive Punk Rock music that any fans of Dag Nasty, Bad Relgion, The Damned, Ensign, Bold, Lifetime, Strike Anywhere, or Youth of Today will be all over. Recommended.
Ratings: Music: 8/10, Vocals: 7/10, Message: 7/10, Creativity: 7/10, Sound Quality: 9/10, Overall: 7.5/10
Room Thirteen (http://www.RoomThirteen.com)
The fire not only still burns, but licks out menacing flames... A split label release is an interesting thing, and on a single nonetheless. However this is what we have here, and it has to be said that you can see why neither label wanted the other to have sole custody of it. Engineer Records and the newly established Koi Records - from the Lonestar State - are the aforementioned labels. The Fire Still Burns treat us to two slices of what we are led to believe is the start of a punk rock revolution. Stomping out with first song 'Good As New', it is hard-edged punk that just stays assessable to lovers of catchy punk, as it remains credible to the hardcore punk fan. Nicely named Alf Bartone has a voice which maybe lacks the gravelly anarchy of any old school or 'oi oi' punk band, but stays harmony-free long enough for full acceptance. Second song 'My Assault On The World Starts Now' is much of the same, and starts with such truly ferocious drumming by Derik Moore that there must've been smoke coming off of his sticks by the time he finished! The Fire Still Burns have been compared to such bands as Rise Against, Strike Anywhere and Dog Nasty with their melodic/punk sound, but don't get the wrong idea, these boys have balls and these boys have a message. Let the revolution begin...
Under The Volcano (http://www.underthevolcano.net)
Ladies and gentleman, your new favorite band, The Fire Still Burns. Don't believe me? The Fire Still Burns, featuring ex-members of Lifetime, Ex-Number Five, Ensign, amongst others, is the answer for what the fuck happened to early '90's style East Coast hardcore. This two-song seven-inch marks their first release, and with the recent news of the band signing to Blackout, hopefully we?ll have more tunes on the way. With the knowledge of knowing who makes up this band, you can be certain that this is going to be good, but it's up to you to take a listen and know just how good these cats really are. For fans of Lifetime, Dag Nasty, or contemporaries such as Strike Anywhere or early Rise Against, you need this record.
Mammoth Press (http://www.mammothpress.com)
When you have a 7-inch record featuring past and current members of Ex Number Five, Lifetime, Vision, Ensign and the Scarlet Letter it's hard to expect anything short of brutally honest, melodic, energetic punk rock. A vinyl 45 is the perfect medium for this release, these two tracks are unrelenting and any other format for this release would be an abomination.
The Fire Still Burns has an early 1990's punk rock sound, which compliments the early 1990's punk rock ideology of releasing a 7-inch. The first track, Good As New, opens and one thing is obvious. this band has an unquenchable thirst for music, the fast paced vocals, overlapping guitars and furious bass brings you back to a time when scene points didn't exist, a time when music was what it was all about.
In short, this 7-inch is well worth the investment, it is surely a record that won't spend enough time off your table to be filed with your endless crates of 7-inches. This is what music is supposed to be about, through and through.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Laminated (http://www.laminated.org)
I had no clue who this band was and I was also clueless as to who KOI Records is. I guess this is the label's very first release (well, it's a split release with Engineer Records), and it sure as hell was a good way to start off a label. The Fire Still Burns play some really catchy punk/hardcore type stuff with singing, rather than screaming. It sounds a lot like Lifetime meets Strike Anywhere, with a touch of old school hardcore thrown in. But, to tell you the truth, this stuff isn't that heavy. It's a softer style of hardcore, if you can even call it hardcore at all.
The 2 song release is an excellent way for this band to start a career. It does a perfect job of showing what this band can do and where they're coming from. I definitely haven't heard many bands like this, so they have a lot going for them with their catchy-as-hell brand of punk rock.
Rating: 4/5
