The Firstborn "The Unclenching of Fists" CD
[Pro-Con]
This is my first exposure to this Portuguese band, though this is their third record, which took them four years to put together. The album follows a concept inspired by Tantric Buddhism and based on the Tibetan "Book of the Dead", with the band's style revolving around a core of blackened death/thrash with some progressive and avant-garde undercurrents surfacing in the form of some Eastern musical influences and chants that are brought in to enhance the concept. As a result, elements of the music reference bands like Pestilence and Nile in the use of what I imagine are guitar synths to create some of the Eastern textures (actual sitar is employed during two of the tracks), not to mention the occasional vocal chants, with smatterings of Enslaved and Emperor surfacing in some of the singing as well as the twisted Norwegian black metal dissonance rearing its head on occasion. It's certainly a diverse record, as the aforementioned approaches are found blending seamlessly with midpaced grooves complete with harmonics and churning power chords, as well as interestingly thrashy death metal riffs that nod to the old school while bringing in subtly creative modern twists to keep things interesting. Most of the vocals are snarling screams with spurts of singing adding color in the distance, at times letting a growl take the forefront. But "Voyage" makes effective use of some emphatic, almost choral singing vocals that are actually pretty cool, while the bulk of the track is somewhat abstract and noisy compared to the other songs. "Fire Channels" offers up some of the strongest riffs, exhibiting a good mix of tempos and great use of carefully placed clean guitars within the distorted rhythms towards the end - fluidly transitioning into the subdued instrumental "Movement for Practicing the Way" (one of the tracks that employs sitar). "The Roaring Voice of the God of Death" then builds on a slower and doomier disposition, using deeper lead vocals and nice singing backups in the distance; whereas "Of Time and its Absence" follows and contains some of the fastest and most straightforward black metal playing of the entire disc (though not without hints of sitar to maintain a connection to the other material). "Ten Offerings to Mahâkâla" is another slower song, and one of my favorites, again using some cool little clean riffs and spiraling lead runs with a good balance of vocal styles. I think the main reason I enjoy this song so much is that it feels a little more cohesive than some of the others. True, they do a very good job of integrating so many different influences on this record, but even at an average length of only three to five minutes, I feel like the songs can become disjointed. I say this because there are portions of the songwriting that are absolutely awesome, and I'm really impressed by the creativity present in certain passages. However, that level of quality is overshadowed when it seems like they're trying to cover too much ground, and some of the speedier or more traditional moments (namely during "Golden Libation") lack the vision exhibited by the most epic and creative riffing that the band is capable of achieving. By the same token some of the Eastern influences sound a little forced (mainly the chanting) since the band proves their ability to find more effective and powerful means through which to elaborate on the chosen themes of this outing, but... at the same time, there aren't any bad songs herein. Each track has its admirable moments. And I do like the recording for the most part. It took my ears a few minutes to adjust, but considering that there's a lot of layering happening I think they've got a good sense of clarity going on, with a lot of density as well. I wish the bass were somewhat more prominent since the performance seems to be pretty damn slick, but there's enough presence there to let the basslines play a significant role. Guitars certainly dominate the mix, which is fine, especially considering they've got a nice and crunchy tone going on. The drums are barely too rigid, but not enough to harm the excellent drum performance - handled by an extremely talented session member who has a knack for adding energy to the songs through excellent fills and delicate changeups, without fearing blastbeats when necessary. The disc is packaged in a glossy digipack with very faint color, scattered with imagery that I assume pertains to the lofty concept explored within (some of the photos look like the band members entirely coated with thick, dry mud or something). Of course the lyrics are along similar lines: "Born of flesh and dirt, cleansed in liquid flame, Through oblivion and despair, beckoned forth in blissful, absolute clarity... Transcending the cycle of mortality, I revel in the absence of time..." This is a pretty strong effort overall. The first few songs stumble a bit in that they almost seem to try too hard to immediately depict a musical connection to the concept at hand, so it's not until midway through the record that things really start to take shape and become a bit more forceful. So while there are minor setbacks, I think this band has a great deal of talent at their disposal, and I'll be very interested in hearing their next record, because I think they could really impress the hell out of me with a little more work. Not bad at all. (6/10)
Running time - 52:00 (approximately), Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Fire Channels, The Roaring Voice of the God of Death, Ten Offerings to Mahâkâla]
Pro-Con Media - http://www.proconmedia.com

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