“Slaves of Fate” is the long-awaited debut
album from Brazilian heavy metal group Fire Strike. Though they’ve been around
for a while, it felt like the band really burst onto the scene in 2013 with
their EP “Lion and Tiger”. It didn’t seem like the band quite got the attention
they deserved, but hopefully that will all change now with a full album
courtesy of Stormspell Records. For those new to the band, Fire Strike is a
serious gust of energy featuring all things heavy metal. This band lives and
breathes traditional heavy metal. Their music always feels like it is charging
ahead, with no shortage of awesome riffs, tasty licks, or balls-out vocals.
The band is most notable for their
passionate, fiery singer, Alina Nunes. Her voice soars atop the music in an
effort to replicate idols like Bruce Dickinson or Rob Halford. While Alina’s
voice obviously differs from those two, her enthusiasm is similar. She has an
incredible range, but more importantly, incredible control of her voice. A lot
of modern singers can wail over anything, but don’t always choose the right
notes or melodies. That isn’t the case here, because pretty much every song is
filled to the brim with singalong moments.
Of course, you’ll be singing along to much
more than just the vocals. Fire Strike has taken a page out of the books of the
two most godly metal bands (Iron Maiden and Judas Priest) and unleashed an
impressive number of harmonized guitar licks. Between the two, Fire Strike
leans definitively more towards the Iron Maiden side of things, particularly on
tracks like “Master of the Seas”, where the thumping bass is just too prominent
to ignore. It helps that the band quickly settles into a galloping pace that
would bring a tear to Steve Harris’ eye.
Since Fire Strike clearly wears their
influences on their sleeves, this doesn’t leave much room for originality.
There certainly is nothing on “Slaves of Fate” that will shock you, but the
band is able to put their own stamp on these songs. You will definitely
recognize a Fire Strike song as soon as you hear it, largely due to the sheer energy
with which the band plays. This is especially clear on a track like “Losing
Control”, which explodes in each subsequent chorus after a ballad-esque start. This song is
the clear favourite, but others like “Reach For Your Life” and “Our Shout Is
Heavy Metal” are strong contenders as well. After 45 minutes of pure metal, the
band closes with heartfelt shouts of “We’re living heavy metal” and “Our noise
is: heavy metal”, amongst others. Lines like that truly sum up what Fire Strike
is all about, and “Slaves of Fate” is an excellent record to communicate that
message to the world!
Highlights
"Reach For Your Life"
"Losing Control"
"Our Shout Is Heavy Metal"
Final Rating
4.4/5 or 88%.
Kind of a long album.
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