Fire From The Gods – Narrative

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Fire From The Gods

Narrative - Rise Records

Fire From The Gods hail from Texas, a part of the USA known for producing some remarkable musicians and unique recordings, this is their first release for Rise Records and their most focused album to date. The story behind this album stems directly from vocalist AJ Channing‘s life. Born in the Bronx to a single mother of Jamaican descent, he spent his childhood moving between London, New York, Los Angeles, Norfolk and Ghana. This diverse experience has provided him with a unique outsider perspective into the problems of the world, it is his experiences that have informed the musical and lyrical direction of the album.

This is a brutal album that contains elements of metal, hardcore and the harder end of hip hop, yet for all of the intense pummelling riffs and beats this is an intelligent hybrid of styles. Often I’ll find albums of this nature become somewhat overbearing after a while, but that’s not the case with Narrative. Whilst I have a personal favourite, the shortest and hardest hitting track, Diversion, the whole of Narrative never gets old or repetitive. This is not your standard anodyne rap metal crossover, the blend of influences and styles keeps this a relentless and energizing listen, rather than the usual formulaic and predictable offerings we tend to get when rap and metal are combined.

At it’s heart this is a hardcore album, but the musical influences from the parallel worlds of metal, alongside a vocal delivery straight ouuta the angrier end of hip hop, means that this is an impressive album that will appeal to fans of all the genres that influenced it. it’s consistently aggressive enough for fans of hardcore, the metal touches blend in seamlessly and it boasts a vocal delivery that veers between smooth rap and screaming hardcore defiance. The result is that the ferocious delivery and the personal nature of the songwriting combine to make an album that delivers on every level.

Narrative will be released on 26th August and it can be ordered from Rise Records here