Chance is a fine thing. As in, I would love for White Fire to be at the start of their career and on the way to making more and more music like their most recent EP Burned In Effigy. Unfortunately this is the final release from a band I’m only just learning about. Let’s not dwell on the negatives though because at least I now get a chance to share with you some deliciously weighty rock music; the type of rock music that blows speakers out and gets your grandparents nodding their old, grey heads. If you’re not sold already, then come in over the jump for some big fuck off riffs. There, now I have your attention.
I’m not familiar with St. Louis but I can only imagine it’s a place filled with low slung guitars and fuzz pedals, going by the aural battering here. White Fire may be at the end of their run as a band but they are now my favourite band from this city. Sludgy riffs are dime a dozen, yeah, but they are very rarely paired with catastrophically catchy hooks like this. Think Kylesa and early Mastodon channeled through an ancient Orange amplifier and you might get an idea as to why I dig on this so damn hard. Produced like a rock album, by rock musicians, the drum sounds, delayed guitars and meaty bass tones make these tracks snap, crackle and pop like very little else. There’s a big stoner vibe on some of this material but it’s never overdone, partly in thanks to the dual vocal attack that wails and screeches over these big distorted passages. These four tracks are loaded to the brim with the good stuff and on more than one occasion, they spill over because they’re too damn great.
White Fire are no longer pushing forward as a band but if you dig on them, keep an eye out for their related side projects. I’ll be featuring some of over the next few weeks anyway, because these dudes know riffs and riffs are the best currency around.