The United Kingdom really spews out a lot of variety when it comes to Metal and rock music. 44 FIRES hail from London and have been around since 2011. Joined together by their love for various forms of rock and Metal this band describe themselves as "Political Metal". My heart dropped when I read this. I'm a firm believer in the fact that politics should stay out of music. Make music about burning churches, having sex, getting drunk or worshipping the Dark Lord of the Underworld for all I care, just keep politics away from our beloved music.

With my expectations already at rock bottom, I pressed play on this album. Kicking off with "Army Beside Me" I was pleasantly surprised; the music was great, a far cry from the "fuck the system" type shit I was expecting. The guitar evokes a Tom Morello -esque feel to it. When the vocals kick in they really make the sound, Grungy, harsh and in your face. Two songs later "Freedom" starts up. By this point I've learned to block out the meaning of the lyrics and am really beginning to enjoy and listen to the music. At this point their influence of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is extremely evident. But, it gets better. A few songs later the stand-out track of the album comes along. "Hate Me" is what it would sound like if CLUTCH and PANTERA made a baby. It has an infectious beat and riff. Not only that, but I guarantee you will be walking around humming this chorus.

This is by no means a bad album. There's energy, passion and you can feel the anarchistic hatred oozing from every track. Although, I can't help but feel they're almost trying a bit too hard to sound like their influences. They almost sound like a carbon copy of their idols. This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, if it ain't broke don't fix it and all that. But I just wish that they'd put more of their originality into this album. 44 FIRES have laid out the groundwork for their revolution with this album and it's worth the listen.