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The Fire Restart

The Orchestra Has Fallen EP

Written by: TL on 23/02/2008 20:11:37

Okay so yes, I could be bringing you an interview and a gig review of The Mars Volta's show last night, but since I have to wait till tomorrow to get the photo's of the show anyway, I'd rather do some community service. The reason I call it community service is that by writing this review, the only one I'm doing a service is you dear reader. You see after recording their first EP "The Orchestra Has Fallen", San Diego six-piece The Fire Restart decided to break up - A choice I have been lamenting ever since I found and grew fond of the EP.

Now if you wish you could write off these guys as the usual screamo/poppunk hybrid that seems to pop up everywhere on myspace at the moment, but that would be doing them an injustice, because while the genre descriptions might fit, there's nothing usual or average about the way this band makes the two fit together. First off, immediately stealing the picture, we have the hazy voice of frontwoman Emily, sounding like the passionate song of a siren luring men into disaster. Backing her are simple compositions of interchanging passages of powerchorded riffage one moment and soft plucking of semi-acoustic strings. It's the acoustic passages that really set the mood for "The Summer" leading you on until Emily's voice alternates with screamed vocals in the breakdown with the words "Maybe I'm in love! Maybe there's no excuses!". Words that'll burn a mark in your consciousness almost as much as those of the sister-tracks "Part 1: One Black Tide" and "Part 2: A Shade Of Red" where the first is again dominated by a subtle but growing acoustic mood and the other rocks out in a higher tempo, reminding you of old Behind Crimson Eyes material, all adding up to the main question of the songs "Can we break away and - embrace our miscarriage?". It's not complicated and it's not overly original (and it's not anything resembling recent either) but there's something in the mood, the melody and the contrast between the hesitant beauty of Emily's vocals and the full on passion of the screams that takes you back to the way you felt back when you heard your first Taking Back Sunday songs. A naive feeling effectively making you miss the days where emobands had nothing whatsoever to do with what was in fashion.

"The Orchestra Has Fallen" is an EP fueled by the magic of a band that's under no pressure to do anything but come together and make something that tickles the soul, and while it might be not be a recent release or even that relevant to anything in the scene, I'm sure that if you're like me, you're going to be mourning the breakup of this band as much as the one of Anias soon enough.

Download: The Summer, Part 2: A Shade Of Red
For the fans of: Anias, Taking Back Sunday, Flee The Seen, Behind Crimson Eyes
Listen: The band's last songs @ Myspace

Release date 26.01.2006
Self-released