FIRE - review added 9th December 2009
Album Review: Thrill Me (2009)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and musical breasts
Maltese rockers Fire describe themselves as 'a no frills rock band...delivering raw, powerful live performances'. They've been around since the late 1990's, although their debut album Ignite didn't appear until 2006.
The band - Kenneth Calleja on vocals, Joe Vella and Robert Longoon on guitars, Charles Cassar on bass, and Mark Abela on drums - suggest their latest album Thrill Me is a collection of hard rock and metal tracks in the Whitesnake and Judas Priest mould. I'm afraid I really don't hear any Judas Priest-isms in this music, and although the music is of similar heaviness to Whitesnake (and occasionally slightly bluesy) there isn't really any other connection.
The sound is more a mixture of classic heavy rock 'n' roll and standard hard rock, mixed with a modern-ish vibe and up-to-date production techniques. The performances are mostly beyond reproach. The songs are biased more towards excitement than actual brilliance. The title track is racy, as is the equally spunky 'Get It On', 'Always There' is likeable, the heavier 'Where Are We Goin' has a fair slug of appeal, and 'Lost Without You' and final track 'Back Home' are both intelligent additions, but overall it just doesn't grab my throat and inspire me as much as it could or should have done.
This album by Fire is another of many releases this year which have been very okay but nothing more. It's an album that, if you bought it, you'd listen to it a couple of times and enjoy it, then put it away and probably never bother again. It's not nice being negative about albums that don't put a foot wrong, but it really is just as important to put a foot 'right', and Thrill Me only occasionally does that.
Check out... The artwork. Does anyone know where you can buy nipple phones?
Track List:
1. Thrill Me
2. Get It On
3. That Kind Of Woman
4. Come With Me
5. Always There
6. Holly Wood
7. Crazy Lovin'
8. No More Pain
9. Where Are We Goin'
10. Lost Without You
11. Back Home
Label: Avenue Of Allies
Artist's website(s): Fire , MySpace
