On April 13th, through the cooperation of Satanath Records (Georgia) and Fetzner Death Records (Germany), the U.S. extreme metal band In the Fire, whose lineup includes members of Azure Emote, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Castrator, Hypoxia, and Fragile Body, will release their third album, Test Of The Pendulum Blade — and the test proves to be deadly effective.
Attempting to sum up the stylistic influences in these 12 new tracks is a challenge, because the band so seamlessly integrate many different ingredients, ranging from death to black metal and from head-hooking thrash to blistering technical mind-benders, and with an obvious love for epic heavy metal that also emerges.
As a result, the songs all become roller-coaster rides, and not just in the number of stylistic and tempo twists and turns they provide, but in their changing moods as well, blood-thirsty barbarism one moment and sorcery the next (and those are just examples).
We have a fine sign of what we’re trying to explain in the song named “Alluring Parasite” that we’re premiering today.
The song we’re about to present is made up of two dramatically contrasting parts, both of them gripping in different ways, both of them featuring guitar solos that are also different in their moods but both of them splendid.
The first phase of the song is sheer madness, expressed through ultra-frenzied riffing that sounds like swarms of insects gone berserk. The bass-work is equally unhinged, but its heft makes it sound like giant burrowing worms. The drums violently snap at the listener’s neck, adding to the feeling of voracious mayhem, and on top of all that the vocals provide a crazed harmony of jagged screams, horrid roars, and tortured cries.
Morbid feelings somehow work their way into the music’s unhinged feverishness as the timbre of the riffing changes, and the band also inject jolting grooves, but the dominant impression is still one of insane marauding, a rampage that reaches its zenith in the first of those guitar solos, which is a rapidly swirling spectacle of sound.
But in the song’s second phase, which arrives right after the soloing pyrotechnics, a big change occurs. The frenzies subside, opening the way for momentous chords and slowly darting notes that ring and seem to wail. The music becomes mysterious, mesmerizing, and majestic, and the second solo adds to all of those impressions in breathtaking fashion.
IN THE FIRE is:
Ryan Moll – vocals, guitars
Josh Mahesh Kost – guitars
Steven Dever – bass
Carolina Perez – drums
Guitars, vocals, and bass were recorded by Ron Vento. Drums were recorded by Noah Buchanan. The album was mixed by Ron Vento at Nightsky Studios, and it was mastered by none other than Dan Swanö at Unisound. Mike Hrubovcak (Visual Darkness) is responsible for the logo and the attention-grabbing cover art.
The labels recommend the album for fans of Death, Cradle Of Filth, In Flames, Hypocrisy, and King Diamond, and pre-orders are available (along with more info) through the links below.
Also below, we’re including a stream of the new album’s first single, “Blasphemously Blessed“, and it’s just as much of a jaw-dropper as the one we’ve premiered today, providing a heart-pounding amalgam of blazing thrash and glorious heavy metal class, along with demon-spawn vocals, episodes of hulking brutishness, and of course further doses of high-speed fretwork dementia — and yet another brilliant guitar solo. You’ll discover that this song changes a lot, right up through its chillingly eerie outro.
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat367-in-the-fire-test-of-the-pendulum-blade-2024
https://fetznerdeathrecords.de/
IN THE FIRE:
https://inthefire.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/inthefireofficial
http://www.instagram.com/inthefireband