Firewing – Resurrection

Firewing
Resurrection
Massacre Records
April 23,2021
58:25

There’s a new symphonic metal band in town: FIREWING!

Big words. Firewing are a new band from the USA. Wrong, the members are from Brazil and now apparently live in the United States. And they already have a record deal. With Massacre Records. Their debut album “Resurrection” will be released in April. And the quintet starts right away with a concept album. It is based on the “between two legendary mystical creatures that are the roots of life and creation of all humankind”.

The intro “Prelude: Moonlight Of Despair” is the first of the five (mostly) short instrumentals. The band obviously wants to do credit to the genre. Bombastic orchestration leads into the first banger “Obscure Minds”. Fortunately, the guys don’t freeze in awe of the genre designation, but rock out powerfully. Fast drums provide a driving rhythm. The striking bass line also immediately catches the ear. And another difference to other run-of-the mill releases. The singer does not sing as an operatic tenor or baritone. He has a pleasantly scratchy voice. Of course, this enhances the sound a bit. After instrumental number two follows the extremely melodic “Demons Of Society”. Here, too, the drums provide a good speed and the guitars a lot of pressure. In contrast, “Far In Time” is a beautiful power ballad. With an outstanding guitar solo. The musicians love it powerful and whipping, also on the title track “Resurrection”. Here, Firewing skilfully poach in classic rock realms. “Time Machine”, with its more than seven minutes of playing time, is a small work of art in itself. Quiet strings at first, then the guitars and the singer enter no less calmly. For the first two minutes you think it’s a ballad, but then the guitars kick in powerfully. Epic and progressive metal convincingly mixed together.  After the also epic-progressive “Eternity”, two songs follow with “Tales Of Ember & Vishap: How Deep Is Your Heart?” and “Tales Of Ember & Vishap: The Meaning Of Life”, which belong together thematically and tell a story together, of the eternal struggle between “good” and “evil”. Quiet passages alternate with crashing metal, always underpinned by great orchestration. “The Essence Of Your Heart” is again fast-paced, but still highly melodic. It takes courage to end an album with an instrumental five and a half minute outro. OK, the song is not called Outro, but “Epilogue: Sacred Journey”. But the orchestration dominates. To close the circle to the intro, it didn’t necessarily have to be so long.

Welcome to Symphonic/Epic Metal, Firewing. I have rarely heard an album of this genre in recent times that I liked so much. Despite all, partly excessive bombast, Rock and Metal are not neglected. And I’ve rarely heard a concept album that sounded so fresh and where the music didn’t have to be pressed into a rigid corset. So, they did pretty much everything right. “Ressurrection” is an all-round convincing debut album.

FIREWING – Tales Of Ember & Vishap: The Meaning Of Life (Extended Version) (Lyric Video): https://youtu.be/zOe3iGwllU0

Lineup:

Airton Araujo – Vocals
Caio Kehyayan – Guitars
Bruno Oliveira – Guitars / Orchestration
Peter de Reyna – Bass
Chris Dovas – Drums

Track list:

• Prelude: Moonlight Of Despair
• Obscure Minds
• Chapter I: Acheron’s Ritual
• Demons Of Society
• Far in Time
• Chapter II: Temple Of Helios
• Resurrection
• Time Machine
• Chapter III: Transcending Souls
• Eternity
• Tales of Ember & Vishap: How Deep Is Your Heart?
• Tales of Ember & Vishap: The Meaning Of Life
• The Essence Of Your Heart
• Epilogue: Sacred Journey