It's always very exciting to get a record to listen to that's completely unknown to me. The bandname FIRECRACKER I would have put in some NU-Metal box and dismissed immediately. And then the cover... Well, let's just say that it didn't tease my interest more than the name. After the first spin I thought this would be a really tough review to write. It would have been very easy to dismiss "Born Of Fire" as yet another overambitious Prog/Power Metal record. And that was absolutely my first impression about it. But for each listen the album grew, the details fall in place and the thread. That is very common with this type of music, it needs time to settle and more time to grow. The greatness can have something to do with that Tommy Karevik is one of the best vocalists around in Sweden nowadays. He did an amazing job on Seventh Wonder's latest release "Mercy Falls" and he's just as good here. Listening to his amazing vocal lines and variation in his voice and expressions I wonder if this record would have been as interesting with another singer. Tommy is perhaps not a typical Metal vocalist but that's also what makes him very special.

This record is a collection of songs guitar-demon Stefan Lindholm was working on before VINDICTIV saw the light of day. According to the press release The CD "Born of Fire" is an exciting look back to the earlier days of Stefan's career, which is now developing into legendary status. Even if this album is a very nice piece of Swedish Prog Metal it won't make a huge impact on anyone. It will be something to refer to as a very nice album.

Compared to VINDICTIV, FIRECRACKER is easier to get into. The production is more airy and lighter but still with the intensity this genre require. It might appear this way since Tommy's voice is very clean. Göran Edman has a much deeper and rasping voice. A matter of taste of course but I prefer Tommy out of the two. There are some really nice tunes on this record, "Second Self" and "A Place Called Behind" are two favorites. The first one being quite typical for the genre with great, little off rhythm, vocal lines and a very nice solo where Stefan shows off both speed and tone. The latter is darker piece that starts off in a really heavy mid-tempo riff which later turns over in more up-tempo, still with the great vocal effort from Tommy.

It's still very cool that musicians make their unreleased catalogue available instead of having the fans paying extreme money for demo-tapes on eBay. And yes, "Born Of Fire" sounds very good, it's a nice collection of songs so it's great that Stefan decided to share this piece of work with the world.