GLORYDAZE Music - Articles: Fire (Malta)

ARTIST: Fire (Malta)
ALBUM: Thrill Me
LABEL: Avenue Of Allies
SERIAL: 09 06 0007
YEAR: 2009
SPONSOR: Gregor Klee

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

LINEUP: Kenneth Calleja - vocals * Joe (PeJxa) Vella - guitars * Robert Longo - guitars * Charles Cassar - bass * Mark Abella - drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 Thrill Me * 02 Get It On * 03 That Kind Of Woman * 04 Come With Me * 05 Always There * 06 Hollywood * 07 Crazy Lovin' * 08 No More Pain * 09 Where Are We Goin' * 10 Lost Without You * 11 Back Home

RATING:

WEBLINKS: www.firemalta.com

Background
I guess this is a first! The very first review of a rock band from Malta.. of all places. Pretty soon it won't be long before we reviews acts from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Gibraltar, possibly even Cyprus or Turkey. But don't let those last two countries in on the secret otherwise we might have a bloodbath on our hands - of Ottoman proportions! lol! We talked about this outfit Fire earlier on in the year. Regular readers will have seen their album cover graced over the main page of this website for many weeks. It's not that we have a pre-disposition to boobs and backsides (well.. actually we do! .. truth be known), but I reckon the album cover on Fire's 'Thrill Me' could end up being album cover of the year.. for me anyway! Found on MySpace and given a write up by this site (and a few others too I believe), it wasn't long before German label Avenue Of Allies came courting, and so here it is, 'Thrill Me' now out into the public arena and setting sail upon the tempestuous high seas of melodic hard rock. In our earlier article on the band, we mentioned the influence of Switzerland, and on 'Thrill Me' you'll hear a load of Gotthard as well as Aerosmith in their sound. Earlier in the year, I really enjoyed another Swiss band called Roadfever, who were also heavily influenced by their countrymen. 'Thrill Me' is not the first outing by this band, having previously released 'Ignite' back in 2006 and a two track demo CD in 2004. But without doubt, 'Thrill Me' is the album to put Fire (and Malta) onto the rock n roll map.

The Songs
The fiery opener 'Thrill Me' punches its way out of the box, reminding us of the heyday of bands such as Thunder (UK) and Little Angels. There's lots of grit along the melodic pathway laid down by 'Get It On', thick guitar lines offset by some faint organ strains in the background. Picking up the pace with 'That Kind Of Woman', Fire straddle the fence between 'in your face' verses with a hint of distortion in the vocal a la Steve Tyler, and jangly lite choruses. An interesting contrast. Keeping the metronome on high, 'Come With Me' has a little bit of Ozzy Osbourne in parts, the chorus nicking a few ideas from 'Center Of Eternity'. This is pretty good though, lots of energy being released here. 'Always There' is a useful tune though doesn't hit the mark for me. The Aerosmith markers are visible again on the semi-rocker/ballad 'Hollywood', it's followed by the fun rocker 'Crazy Lovin' which is so full of 80's ideas you'll be feeling time displaced! The sober blues vibe of 'No More Pain' gathers momentum, whereas 'Where Are We Goin' contains a modern sounding groove. I'm absolutely loving the fist-clenching hard rock of "Lost Without You', which speaks the universal language of hard rock the world over. AORsters will enjoy the pomp introduction to the closer 'Back Home'. Very House Of Lords like, though not for long as the track turns into a muscular rocker with big guitar riffs and pumping bass lines.

In Summary
How many other bands like Fire are out there on the Net? Long may we keep discovering quality outfits like this. With a two-pronged guitar attack, it would be great seeing this band get out into mainland Europe, maybe next summer, and play a few festival gigs, as that is where I believe Fire's appeal would be better served. In the meantime, they have a great album on their hands, and a neat album cover that will stand out on the shop shelves more so than others.

Embedded Video
Fire - Thrill Me

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