With the self-titled debut Mary Beats Jane album one of our all-time favourite releases, we have kept a close eye on the exploits of vocalist Peter Dolving especially with his time in The Haunted. So there was certain anticipation when news of a first album from IAmFire emerged, a project originally seeing Dolving linking up with bassist/vocalist Mikael Ehlert, guitarist Peter Ahlers Olsen, and drummer Ulf Scott. Now completed by drummer Jakob Mygind with Rasmus Revsbech, the Copenhagen outfit swiftly and increasingly surprise, feed, and captivate with From Ashes and its feast of heavy psychedelic/stoner rock bred adventures.
From its first breath From Ashes imposes its presence and qualities upon ears and imagination, opener Magpies and crows forcibly prowling the senses with ominous riffs and hefty beats. It soon settles into a heavy footed magnetic stroll though as the contrasting but equally tempting warm tones of Dolving settle upon the trespass. Fusing essences akin to Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, and Kyuss with the grungier spicing of a Gruntruck, the track submerges the listener in a weighty embrace of sound and hypnotic charm.
It is a compelling start carrying on into next up Did you find your name, the song sauntering in on a mellow melodic breeze driven by boisterous and instantly rousing rhythms. As its predecessor, its presence is immediately contagious, Dolving vocally and the band musically weaving a celestial tapestry of suggestion with a lurking lining of shadow bred implication. That dark inclination erupts with increasing intensity as the song twists and turns, its rapacious Palms spiced heart sharing its creativity with melodic stimulants and increasing imagination.
Burn your halo shares a more irritable nature in its grunge lined rock ‘n’ roll next with its successor, Eyes wide open, descending into psych rock foreboding and seduction, again with an ever present edge which keeps the senses wary and ears transfixed. Both songs infuse unpredictable and tantalising twists in their already riveting bodies, the second casting a sonic incantation with a raw Jane’s Addiction like air, and each leave ears and appetite just wanting more.
That need is potently fed by For what it´s worth, its tribal rhythmic predation and invasively dancing grooves as addictive as Dolving’s vocal incitement which carries as much portentousness as reassuring calm. Bordering ritualistic, the track is creative manipulation with increasing dexterity before a similar but individual persuasion is cast by Beamer. It too has a volatility which maybe threatens rather than erupts but adds to the song’s body and imagination involving mastery with the drums an addictive ringleader once again.
The album concludes with firstly My mistake, a ravenous cosmic infestation, and lastly through the caustic yet suave tenacious shuffle of Inside. As the album overall, both tracks simply get under the skin with the puppeteer qualities of the rhythms and irresistible trespass of the grooves, they just two aspects in their individual multi-layered and flavoured examinations.
From Ashes is psych/stoner manna with rabidity in its enterprise controlled by an imagination which barely recognises restraint itself, in its midst Dolving may be exploring his own finest moments yet. Simply it is striking irresistible stuff; so seems we have another to add to our persistent favourites.
From Ashes is out now via Elevation Denmark and available @ https://iamfirerocks.bandcamp.com/album/from-ashes
https://www.facebook.com/IAmFireband/ https://www.instagram.com/iamfireofficial/
Pete RingMaster 21/11/2017
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