Second Sun
Zero Fire
•
February 27, 2019
From our brothers in the Great White North once again, ZERO FIRE is coming for us all the way from their hometown of Hamilton, Ontario with their sophomore full-length album, Second Sun. ZERO FIRE are still fairly new to the hard rock scene, only starting barely five years ago, and they already have a firm sound that is well established. Close in approximation to rock legends TRAPT, SNOW PATROL, COHEED AND CAMBRIA and lesser known STONEBRINGER and AFTER MIDNIGHT PROJECT, ZERO FIRE's Second sun appropriates a lot of heavy riffs into their sound that brims with memories of old wounds. With rivers of toxic lyrics cutting through each track, ZERO FIRE takes ownership of a troubled past.
Swelling drumlines sweep through tracks like whipping winds with well-timed cymbal crashes while spiky riffs sound paints the foreground in garish colors of heartache and bad memories. Second Sun is full of these wind-swept, emotional landscapes. More so than on previous albums. It still retains a harsh sound if a slightly better production value than past albums. Second Sun comes off as something more arid, as if the melodies have been out bleaching in the sun for months; it's just a little more barren, maybe even a little more inhospitable than their previous albums. But that is far from a bad thing! It just sounds like the band settling well into their sound and understanding that 'heavy' doesn't always mean meaty riffs or burying you underneath large mountains of cymbal noise. You can hear the newfound refinement in the vocals on "Heart Divided" and the beautiful "Disaster Symphony".
A great video of "Ghosts" proves that the band does have a bit of a humorous attitude, the scenes oscillating between the band's serious side of putting on a tight performance and their playful side which includes giant skulls, colorful lights, bubbles and a bunny puppet! ZERO FIRE's Second Sun comes out March 22nd.
10 / 10
Masterpiece
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production
"Second Sun" Track-listing:
1. Slides
2. Ghosts
3. Disaster Symphony
4. You Own the Sun
5. Gout Mouth
6. Heart Divided
Zero Fire Lineup:
Graham King
Erik Thorkildsen
Vince Tarlton
Mike Myszkowski
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