LETTERS FROM THE FIRE
“WORTH THE PAIN”
Album Review By Iron Mathew
6/10
Letters From The Fire are a hard rock band from the USA forming in 2007 as Park Lane and releasing an album in 2009. The band changed their name to Letters From The Fire in 2012, and over the next few years the line up also changed, including a new singer. 2017 will see the release of ‘Worth The Pain’.
Hard hitting and punchy, ‘Perfect Life’ opens the album in bombastic style. Thudding hard, your feet will be stomping hard as the infectious rhythm takes hold and you find yourself smiling from ear to ear. The heavier guitar sound of ‘Mother Misery’ leads to a more progressive approach to the bands sound. Still delivered with a thud, ‘Mother Misery’ continues the heavy mid tempo hard rocking style that ‘Perfect Life’ set. This vibe is carried on with ‘Give In To Me’, a mid to slow tempo progressive rock influenced song that has a really catchy, sing a long style chorus. Light your lighters and raise your arms high in the air, ‘Bruised’ is a mellow power ballad. A faultless vocal performance over a strolling rhythm will keep those lighters and arms aloft from start to finish. The thudding rhythm returns heavier than before as ‘Live A Lie’ crashes in and tramples its way through the airwaves.
Letters From The Fire are a hard rocking hard rock band with influences of the progressive and (very subtle) Southern rock genres. With a more pop rock feel to it ‘My Angel’ is soft rock rather than hard rock and while the songs are attractive the catchiness from the opening songs appears to have dissipated. There are thirteen songs on the album, well worth its purchase price, but if you’re looking for a hard rock album from start to finish, then this is not the album for you. Rock and progressive rock is what you get here, ‘Last December’ mixing both these genres and sounding a lot like Evanescence… ‘Holy Ghost’ continuing the similarity, albeit with a much heavier guitar riff. As the album has progressed, I found myself losing interest more and more as the songs seem to have lost the impact that earlier songs, such as ‘Perfect Life’ and ‘Give In To Me’ had…
Fuel those lighters and hold them high again as ‘At War’ lowers the rock vibe, wandering in on the crest of acoustics and keyboards. A chunky riff breathes life into ‘Control’ as it strolls in at a mid tempo pace, once again displaying a more progressive rock influence. Just at the moment when am thinking the album may slide to an end with a whimper, the title song ‘Worth The Pain’ comes crashing in and the thumping impact of earlier returns in glorious fashion. Up tempo and energetic with sing a long ability, ‘Worth The Pain’ does its best to be a hero and save the album from becoming tired. Well, at least it tried…’Scars’ doesn’t carry on the rescue mission and ambles along without identity, as it’s hard to decide which genre of rock it should be in. Finally, the final song is here, and the album does end with a thud and a thump. ‘One Foot In The Grave’ does have hard rocking impact and if the album had only been ten songs in length rather than thirteen, it would have made much more of an impact and been a much more interesting listen.
Overall, a blend of hard rock, progressive rock and soft rock to produce an album that is a varied and intriguing listen.
TRACKLIST
Perfect Life
Mother Misery
Give Into Me
Bruised
Live A Lie
My Angel
Last December
Holy Ghost
At War
Control
Worth The Pain
Scars
One Foot In The Grave
http://www.lettersfromthefire.net/
https://www.facebook.com/LettersFromTheFire
https://twitter.com/lftfmusic
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