From the moment the tip of the drumstick touched the head of the snare it
had me. The opening drum beat alone of The Holy Fire’s debut self-titled EP
was enough to catch my interest and that is when everything else joins in.
From this opening drum track to the feedback that closes out this stellar
display of musical arrangements, my mind underwent paralysis and my body
began to gyrate and limbs began to move in an almost unstoppable but
uncontested manner.
“Lift Off Message” is the dynamic opener that begins with the aforementioned
drum track and intermixing of neurotic guitar lines and flowing bass fills.
The Holy Fire takes us on a trip back into the '80s for influence but
incorporates elements of late '90s into 2000 math rock, and indie power pop.
Continually flavored with all of these elements throughout the six gems on
this album, this album should not fail to get fans of interesting and
innovative music giving it multiple listens as well as gaining fans in the
standard pop markets to boot.
While vocals grace five of the six tracks here there always seems to be a
strict and heavy focus on the musical and technical side of things
throughout. The guitar lines continue to be both intricate and intoxicating
throughout, under laid by dance floor drum beats and smooth bass tracks.
Dual guitar action fills the songs with a sense of tension that works so
well you may find your self entranced in the patterns they produce in your
head. Math elements strewn all throughout keep things on edge and never find
these songs in an all too familiar rut. Change ups occur often enough but
never take away from the direction the song is moving in. Which many times
happens in math influenced bands.
The vocals are not to be just tossed aside like in some heavy bands;
here they are an integral part of the formula that makes up the first five
tracks. In fact, they may get you singing along, in some classic rock
fashion. In fact, in some songs where vocals would take away from everything
going on here they are the perfect compliment, keeping the ever soaring
guitar lines somewhat grounded... or at least on a kite string. Perhaps the
best example of this is the spastic second track “In Signs”, which is a
three minute example of how to produce a near perfect innovative pop rock
song.
While it may not leave you breathless, and asking what just hit you, it
should make you sweat regardless. With a divine start like this we can only
hope for bigger and better things from a full length. Hopefully, The Holy
Fire plans on sticking around for a while to come and gracing all of our
ears with sonic displays like this one. Indeed.
-Jared Thompson
5.8.04