Spitfire
Self-Help
It’s hard to make an imprint in the metal world today, where picking out a band is as easy as trying to find sand on a beach. Spitfire is dancing into that ballroom: They compare themselves to Every Time I Die and The Melvins, use words like “hybrid of metal and hardcore” in their description, and have emo-swoop hair-dos. Pop-in Self-Help and you get exactly this… kind of. They take every riff too long. They repeat every phrase too much. Their influences are blatant in their music. And I couldn’t be happier. They stood on the shoulders of the giants before them and have produced an unnerving 11-track bludgeon of a record that makes listening to a neo-metal band everything it should be.
The second-best thing about this band is that fact that it doesn’t need an image to sell what they’re presenting. A lot of bands try to be eerie and disturbing through their marketing façade: They put dead kids on the cover; use guns, killing, and bleeding-heart-out imagery; and write songs with long titles about death. When I listen to Spitfire, I don’t need any of that. I hear it. They put their money where their metal mouths are. When they launch into the lyrics “…we’ll all float like driftwood in her oceanic eyes” on “Life and Limb,” the paranormal quality of the voice coupled with the musical context of the song reinforces the twisted metal they’re playing and solidifies them as the real deal.
The stand-out in this quintet is the singer. As mentioned above, in the middle of a song, the screaming can disperse and a wobbly, thin, ghostly vocal may permeate the track. It takes the songs to a new level, giving them a hook, a distinctive Spitfire flavor that makes me want to watch horror movies and listen masochistically to the songs over and over. Add this to the fact that the metal is fast, takes 180-degree turns in short amounts of time, and is next to impossible to understand, the band has a permanent place in my CD collection. Key tracks: “Life and Limb,” “Dear John.”
[Goodfellow] David Stagg
This album review was originally published in the March/April Issue (#118) of HM Magazine. Order the Print Version to read tons more reviews.
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Comments
By austonius
spitfire is amazing! finally, a band that takes hardcore to a realm that fuels our curiosity and keeps us guessing on every song.
By ben
spitfire frigin kills...i mean when you have guys from norma jean and scarlet(2 of the best bands in the biz...if you dont have scarlets new album go buy it now) its hard not to be amazing...spitfire seems to have the awesome guitar work of Norma Jean and the crazy feel and awesome electronics work of Scarlet....not to mention the other guys...they would be amazing on there own...i mean come on....this album is just straight up amazing...hopefully you were smart and pre-ordered it with the shirt....
By James
The first paragraph confuses me... I know you said something profound but I'm not catching it. Nice review though, good stuff from HM!
By Jason
Actually, I found the new CD quite bland compared to "The Dead Next Door". It's just mostly boring.
