Albums

Album Review: Azriel

[Album: A Will Of Fire]
[Label: Thirty Days Of Night]

It seems like this Glasgow-based five-piece are making a name for themselves, having received glowing reviews from most of the alternative music press in the UK for this, their debut album. Good on them too, as they’re playing a brand of music which is largely the domain of American bands with budgets to match the size of their choruses. Their biography calls it hardcore, but to my mind the twin guitar harmonies and open-string chugging are more akin to the metalcore fraternity. There are moments where a more punk influence rears its head though, and it’s completely lacking in melodic vocals or the aforementioned epic refrains.

So, upon my first listen I had to question whether they’re worthy of the praise, or if it’s simply the response of a music press desperate for a British contender in an American sport. Sadly I’m leaning towards the latter. Adequately written and solidly played it may be, but after a dozen listens I still can’t hear anything that hasn’t been done before in a massively saturated genre. Maybe I’m just missing something, but to me it sounds decidedly average.

As with most average albums, there’s nothing disagreeable about anything Azriel do, it’s just that none of it is particularly noteworthy either. To use an analogy (vaguely… well, appallingly) fitting of the album title: every fireman in the land puts out fires, but the ones that get column inches are the ones that run into buildings unequipped and come out covered in soot and holding unscathed babies over their heads. Azriel are just one of the guys patting him on the back on his way to the ambulance.

Maybe that’s unfair – this is a debut album after all, and there are moments where that shows; towards the end of ‘Versus’, where the awkward time signature makes the whole band sound unsure on its feet, or the numerous places where the twin guitars play high on the fret board and the lone bass line underneath doesn’t carry the rhythm very well. Yet those aren’t particular problems; those are just signs of young musicians still finding their songwriting feet. I can forgive things like that on a debut. The problem is that I’m an uneducated listener of this type of music, and I can’t hear the sparks that other people seem to think this band is producing. To the uber-fan, there are probably a thousand little nuances that separate this record from similar titles by other bands, but I just don’t hear them.

Like I said before though, this is still a solid album and a respectable debut. It generally holds up to its American counterparts sound-wise, though there are a couple of niggles with the recording. There are some of the aforementioned open-string chugs where the guitars aren’t quite tight enough to really hit you, and a few other moments where the guitar parts are only just in touch with each other. Sometimes when there’s a lead the rhythm guitars suffer slightly as well, but that’s not something that’ll bother most people. They feel more like a producer’s mistakes than a band’s anyway. There are some pleasing moments in there - the syncopated guitar/drum pattern on ‘The Cycle’ stands out as a neat bit of writing, and ‘Seasick’ is a strong closer that contains a bit of everything the band does. ‘Atlas’, complete with gang vocals and some really nice lead work running through the verses, is my favourite track though.

Fans of the genre will like this CD - Hell, some of ‘em might even love it as much as our beloved music publications – but for the casual listener there’s not much to separate it from other releases. It’s a good debut from a band that can definitely play, but is yet to truly find its own voice. There are a handful of interesting moments, so maybe they could really pull something out of the bag in the future. This, however, is a review of their current CD – and their current CD is okay. Not bad, not great, just okay.

For fans of: Johnny Truant, Anterior, Still Remains
Band link = Azriel

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