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Fiji

Cold Beers And Bleeding Ears EP

Written by: TL on 14/09/2009 19:14:43

You know, I never thought I'd let it happen, but alas, last week really did see me fail to post a single review, I shamefully admit. Of course this was mostly due to my recent taking of the good old knife of rejection, straight to the back, nice and surprising, and as tradition prescribes, my status change had to be followed by much moaning, drinking and other disruptive behaviour. For you however, I am now cutting the emoness short to resume my duties, bringing you 'news' of a fresh Danish band, namely Fiji and their sophomore "Cold Beers & Bleeding Ears EP".

Now the easy way to describe what Fiji sound like, is to impress upon you that their agenda seems to be to write melodic metal, as straight forward and to the point as possible. The even easier way is to suggest that they sound a hell of a lot like Raunchy - and as listeners should be aware, that's not a problem, because Raunchy are cool, right? Anyway, to be quite specific, we've got the classic, five man, axe+axe+bass+drums+vox combination going, and this is being implemented with as little nonsense involved as possible. Drums are pounded loudly, the rhythm guitar chugs out distorted chords and the lead lets ring with catchy riffage while the bass slavishly contributes weight in the background.

Now I realize, that making that Raunchy comment might seem a bit too simplistic, but in all honesty, even if the guitars didn't hint of it slightly, and even if the vocal work didn't do the same (no cleans though), the relatively care-free "let's party hard" attitude of Fiji's sound would still give the similarity away. What that immediately means is that you can generally enjoy Fiji on the same terms as you would Raunchy. The leads easily catch your ear after very few listens, and the energy of the stuff is not to be mistaken in songs such as "Cold Beers And Bleeding Ears" and "Skulls And Scars". And if you things get a little too light hearted here, then you can also go for "Your God Is Dead", which smells more than a little of some At The Gates-admiration.

If one has to wear the critical goggles though, I guess some stabs could be taken at the band's lyricism ("Cold Beers And Bleeding Ears" ? Really?), while remarking that here early in their career, their arsenal of tricks isn't overly varied. But that only makes the nature of this record even more easily spotted. It's not some grand and elaborate artistic statement. It's an energetic and well-intentioned band's second step towards finding their feet in the business, and it's melodic metal made as pure, simple and easily-enjoyable as possible.

Download: Skulls And Scars, The Falling One, Cold Beers And Bleeding Ears
For The Fans Of: Raunchy, Soilwork, In Flames
Listen: myspace.com/fijionline

Release Date Spring 2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**