Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
The Fierce & The Dead - Part 1 CD (album) cover

PART 1

The Fierce & The Dead

Post Rock/Math rock


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Bookmark and Share
memowakeman
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars A wonderful epic!

This is the first song released by British band The Fierce and The Dead which last year (2010) saw the light as an EP with the name of "Part 1", an ambitious eighteen-minute track that invites us to listen to this project by Matt Stevens, Kev Feazey and Stuart Marshall. Honestly, I listened first to their debut album which really caught my attention, that is why I decided to get more of their music, which by the way can be downloaded as "pay what you want" via Bandcamp, so go and do it.

An hypnotizing sound spring from this track, which is gradually progressing and with the minutes adding new elements. It starts slowly but little by little the intensity and emotions are increasing; there is a fantastic atmosphere that sometimes sounds a bit dark, like waiting for something, and in occasions a calm, tranquil and relaxing one. The first explosion comes after three minutes when guitars create a heavier sound, accompanied by louder drums and the always constant and accurate bass sound. Stevens' guitar is wonderful here, we are used to his acoustic guitar, but now with electric he can also produce a lot of things.

After five minutes the song calms down a little bit, returning to its original form. Then bass stands alone and little by little guitars, soundscapes and drums appear in order to put some different textures and colors. Though here the feeling is more like a tranquility passage, you can feel that something is coming. And that's right, because at minute seven the second explosion appears and a gathering of emotions comes. Musically you can listen here to post-rock oriented music, which I adore is that in this single song you can find both, the soft and heavy sides of post-rock.

After ten minutes the tranquility disappears, but there is not explosion either, here the drums work is wonderful, taking more leadership and proposing cool ideas, I really love this passage. But it ends after minute twelve, when a kind of limbo sound stands alone for some seconds until it fades out, when that happens we already have a new structure, bass, drums and guitars reappear with their gently sound, alike to the first part of the song. It once again is gradually progressing and seems that will explode, but this time that does not happen. The last couple of minutes are interesting, with a relaxing atmosphere at first, but the last seconds have a potential and chaotic sound that all of a sudden disappears.

What a wonderful track, I am more than happy with this EP, so I highly invite you to listen to it and believe me you will not regret. If you know my rating style, you know then that I don't use to rate with more than two stars to less than 20 minutes releases (mostly EP and singles) but this time due to the success this track had with me, and because it is really wonderful, I will break my own rules and give it not only three, but four stars.

Enjoy it!

Report this review (#491163)
Posted Wednesday, July 27, 2011 | Review Permalink

THE FIERCE & THE DEAD Part 1 ratings only


chronological order | showing rating only

Post a review of THE FIERCE & THE DEAD Part 1


You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.