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Insane blastbeats. Technical guitar wizardry. Maniacal distorted screams. Sounds awesome doesn't it? Well, none of those things will be found on With Fire's LP Stepping Out Of Ruin. With Fire is very different from most metal bands, because not only are they an instrumental sludge band, but they also have many ambient elements. So instead of sounding like another Isis rip off, SOOR creates an atmosphere and experience that is all its own. Did I mention this record was made by one guy? After reading all that, you might think I would give this album a 100%, but just hang on a second. This cd isn't perfect, in fact it has some elements I really dislike. One of which is the drumming...
When I put in this CD, one of the first things I noticed was the drumming. Generally sludge doesn't have real fast paced beats, but SOOR is the exception. Not only is the drumming on this cd pretty speedy, it is also incredibly loud. In fact, at some points, the drums overpower every other instrument. Now I might not have much of a problem with this if the drums were incredibly good, but they're not. They sound fake, and they're rather repetitious. Not punk rock repetitious, but repetitious nonetheless. Despite the drumming's flaws, the cd would definitely not be as unique without it, and in some songs the drums are pretty catchy and don't overpower the other instruments.
So now that we've got the bad out of the way, let me tell you all the great things about SOOR.
I enjoy pretty much every other element of SOOR. The music has a great outer space type atmosphere, sort of an impersonal yet majestic feel. The guitar on this cd, when it is used (it's not used in Thrones, Lunar Reflection, and Haunted by the past) is stellar. Yes, it's not technical in the least, but it sounds great. It's distorted to the point that it verges on sounding like static, but is just clean enough to convey tonality. Also of note is that the guitar doesn't sound downtuned, which is very unusual for sludge, and adds more uniqueness to this cd. Synths are used extensively in this album, and to excellent effect. In fact, every song on this cd has elements of ambiance. The music here has multiple layers, oftentimes with more than one synth playing at once. Also well used are some really interesting effects, such as the one I call the bubbling sound (Thrones, Negative Outlook Replaced By Divine Intent) and the depth charge sound (Lunar Reflection).
One thing I noticed while listening to this cd was the use of the bubbling effect in the 1st song of the cd, and the last song of the cd. I think this presents a good picture of what With Fire was going for on this cd. A sense of continuity and ambiance. Despite the fact that the drums are too loud, and make the cd sound rather repetitive, SOOR perseveres through these flaws, and comes out as a fairly good, and extremely unique sludge album.
70%
(Originally written for the Metal-Archives)
