The Firstborn - The Unclenching Of Fists
Procon Media - PQP002 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
I kept putting off starting this review, feeling that the album needed at least a couple more full run-throughs before I got started. There's something about hearing that a group have spent the last four years writing and recording their latest work that makes me feel like I should give the disc more than my usual couple of listens whilst knocking the sleep out of my eyes and trudging to work. I mean, I was just sitting my A/S levels when they started this shit! This Portrugese quartet (filled out by a session drummer and lead guitarist for this record) started working on this concept album (generally about Tantric Buddhism, specifically focusing on the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead) while I was still going on cider binges!
Sense of occasion fully overcome, though, it's now time to give my verdict. And generally, it has been more than worth the wait. This is an intriguing, intricate, surprising and engrossing listen from start to finish. Elements of thrash, death metal, black metal, doom, prog and Eastern instrumentation and patterns combine to form compostionally complex and atmospheric tracks, rich in variation and dynamics. The vocalist alone goes through about seven different styles of singing (Dave Mustaine-esque snarls, death metal grunts, black metal screams, and everything in between), and that's before you factor in the sample Eastern instruments, the sitar that features in two of the tracks, the sampled voices that fill the peripheries of the sound with throat singing and choral chanting... Make no mistake, this is an album that demands your full attention. Luckily, it also repays such demands.
For the first four tracks, initial warning signs are shown that perhaps The Firstborn are trying to throw all of their eggs in one basket - there's a sense that you're being overloaded with solos, chants, time-signature changes and tempo shifts - but by the time you reach 'Path Of The Mindwalker', something changes. I'm not sure whether the band settle in their chosen niche (such as it is) more comfortably, or whether the listener's ears simply adjust to the band's way of thinking, but suddenly, it all clicks. The production, which at first sounded at little quiet and thin, suddenly reveals itself to be detailed and expansive, fitting in all of the instrumental twists and turns with the background accoutrements without losing any clarity. The songs, at first confusing, are suddenly engrossing. There's the majesty of Emperor at times mixed with the technicality of Nile, rubbing shoulders with the eclecticism of Tool.
I'm really, really glad I listened to this album a couple more times, and I will certainly be listening to it quite regularly for the future. Every listen reveals a new layer - for instance, I realised on my last spin that the band would be greatly advised to kidnap the session drummer Rolando Barros' family and hold them hostage until he agrees to join the band full-time, such is his Laureano-esque knack for hyper-velocity fills and instinctive feel for dynamics. The time before that, bassist Harbinger's sterling work jumped forward for my full attention. I can't wait to hear what the next session brings me - and hopefully, we won't have to wait another four years for the follow-up.
10/10
Official The Firstborn Website
Official Procon Media Website
Procon Media - PQP002 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
I kept putting off starting this review, feeling that the album needed at least a couple more full run-throughs before I got started. There's something about hearing that a group have spent the last four years writing and recording their latest work that makes me feel like I should give the disc more than my usual couple of listens whilst knocking the sleep out of my eyes and trudging to work. I mean, I was just sitting my A/S levels when they started this shit! This Portrugese quartet (filled out by a session drummer and lead guitarist for this record) started working on this concept album (generally about Tantric Buddhism, specifically focusing on the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead) while I was still going on cider binges!
Sense of occasion fully overcome, though, it's now time to give my verdict. And generally, it has been more than worth the wait. This is an intriguing, intricate, surprising and engrossing listen from start to finish. Elements of thrash, death metal, black metal, doom, prog and Eastern instrumentation and patterns combine to form compostionally complex and atmospheric tracks, rich in variation and dynamics. The vocalist alone goes through about seven different styles of singing (Dave Mustaine-esque snarls, death metal grunts, black metal screams, and everything in between), and that's before you factor in the sample Eastern instruments, the sitar that features in two of the tracks, the sampled voices that fill the peripheries of the sound with throat singing and choral chanting... Make no mistake, this is an album that demands your full attention. Luckily, it also repays such demands.
For the first four tracks, initial warning signs are shown that perhaps The Firstborn are trying to throw all of their eggs in one basket - there's a sense that you're being overloaded with solos, chants, time-signature changes and tempo shifts - but by the time you reach 'Path Of The Mindwalker', something changes. I'm not sure whether the band settle in their chosen niche (such as it is) more comfortably, or whether the listener's ears simply adjust to the band's way of thinking, but suddenly, it all clicks. The production, which at first sounded at little quiet and thin, suddenly reveals itself to be detailed and expansive, fitting in all of the instrumental twists and turns with the background accoutrements without losing any clarity. The songs, at first confusing, are suddenly engrossing. There's the majesty of Emperor at times mixed with the technicality of Nile, rubbing shoulders with the eclecticism of Tool.
I'm really, really glad I listened to this album a couple more times, and I will certainly be listening to it quite regularly for the future. Every listen reveals a new layer - for instance, I realised on my last spin that the band would be greatly advised to kidnap the session drummer Rolando Barros' family and hold them hostage until he agrees to join the band full-time, such is his Laureano-esque knack for hyper-velocity fills and instinctive feel for dynamics. The time before that, bassist Harbinger's sterling work jumped forward for my full attention. I can't wait to hear what the next session brings me - and hopefully, we won't have to wait another four years for the follow-up.
10/10
Official The Firstborn Website
Official Procon Media Website
