Fire When Ready are a four piece outfit who hail from New York, and who haven’t received much exposure in the UK thus far. ‘As the Sky Stared Down With Angry Clouds’ is the band’s debut album, released on the newly formed Art Injection Records. It’s very difficult to slap an appropriate label on the style of music that Fire When Ready play. There are many influences apparent in their sound, ranging from punk and post hardcore to indie. What you get is a unique sounding blend of styles that proves to be brooding and melodic, with occasional bursts of energy.
From the very first strains of album opener ‘Oh What A Clever Façade!!’, Fire When Ready show the listener exactly what they are about. Driving melodies and moody interludes are the order of the day here, with the dual guitars and bass combining well. The lead vocals also serve to compliment the bands sound, managing to be both distinctive and reserved. ‘The Right Hook’ follows and is another strong effort. ‘A Funeral With Wedding Vows’ is a pretty straight forward rock song and is one of the best tracks here. An interesting aspect that the band throw into the mix is the inclusion of two instrumental tracks on the album. ‘She Had Two Smiles’ and ‘Abide And Endure’. Both tracks do their job well and add variety.
Fire When Ready are by no means the finished article though. Whilst they do have a distinctive sound it’s not one that maintains interest over the course of the whole album. There are songs that meander without ever going anywhere – a prime example of this being ‘Say Something While You’re Good and Mad At It’, a song that seems to build for a climax that never appears.
Ultimately ‘As the Sky Stared Down With Angry Clouds’ is a solid and enjoyable debut from a band that undoubtedly have bags of potential. The ingredients for a great album from Fire When Ready are here but the mix is just not quite right yet.
www.artinjectionrecords.com
Mark