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Band Name: Eyes Of Fire
Album Name: Prisons
Rating: 5 / 5 User Rating: 4.5 / 5
Label: Century Media
Buy Album: Amazon.com
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Tracklist
1. Blood (This Consumes You)
2. Gone Forever
3. It All Dies Today
4. True Love
5. Dead to the World
6. Falling Apart
7. Salvation
8. All Said and Done
9. Fight Me
10. Fire Inside
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Put simply, 'Prisons' is an album that will leave lovers of modern metal speechless. As Eyes Of Fire unfurl massive, gloomy undertones, haunting and grandiose, the listener is pulled directly into an expansive universe of overcast melodies and fluent emotional release. A first-rate production by Matt Bayles (Mastodon) reveals every nuance of depth in the group's songwriting and perfectly captures the musician's captivating performances in a detail-oriented manner. Frontman Dan Kaufman achieves god-like status with amazing offerings on tracks like first single 'It All Dies Today' and the appropriately dialectic 'Falling Apart.' When layered with the gruff vocal accompaniment of Matt Fisher, the bands sound becomes completely overpowering.
Although the band often employs clean guitar passages and differing levels of outward intensity, their music is always heavy. Taking occasion to be experimental, Eyes Of Fire are unafraid to take chances and every risk pays off here, from the molasses covered and at times, almost tribal 'Salvation' to the vertigo-like sensations delivered by "Blood (This Consumes You)." Although the band at times bring to mind Anathema, the complex structure of their work also betrays an affinity for progressive minded acts as diverse as Tool and Opeth. Fisher teams with drummer Nicky Bernardi for fluid, loose jamming and taut, thumping strikes. The familiarity amongst these two rhythm-makers is obvious, with both players giving the other enough space to move around inside each composition's structure without becoming sloppy or repetitive.
A lurching pace and the keyboard accompaniments of Pete Truax add a gothic nature to the enormous sounding cut 'Gone Forever.' It's songs like this that really make the listener appreciate the sense of dynamics these guys put into their performance. With such an expansive sound, this music would be fantastic to hear inside a large room as the band issues reverberating, mountainous blasts and chilling, eerie refrains. Well-placed harsh vocals need not be overused and become infinitely more dramatic when utilized sparingly. Eyes Of Fire is noticeably aware of this important songwriting trait and move this type of principle around betwixt the varied instruments, creating contrasting atmospheres that embolden the outward appearance of the band's music in a variety of intriguing fashions. When Kaufman teams up with Cary Petersen to dish out a blackened sounding vibe on 'Dead To The World', one may easily ascertain the high value of the two guitarists' complementing contributions.
In every aspect, this album stands up to the test as Eyes Of Fire suitably trashes the sophomore slump theory with this benchmark perfect outing. A record that has this much to offer such an expansive range of metal listeners doesn't happen very often. Every element is in place for this band to break through on a major basis if given the right exposure. Fans can rest assured that 'Prisons' is the most superfluously crushing new album on the shelves today. A monumental effort.
Review by: EF
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