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As incomprehensive as originality truly is
today, The Firstborn
generally are one of the few metal bands who give this a run for its
money. The Firstborn are one of Portugal's best-kept secrets in the
underground having around 10 years experience as a band, and "The
Unclenching of Fists" being their 3rd full-length. There are
13 tracks in all with somewhere around an hour playing time. Originally,
the 4-piece fell under the ever-growing death and black metal genre,
and it is still quite apparent on this release. However, their music
now falls into no specific category. With black, death, power, and
thrash metal all twined together, they also incorporate a lot of Oriental
ethnic into their already widely diverse metal backbone. The case
may rest in the hands of the Tibetan "Book of the Dead"
as a conceptual angle on this particular album. Much of the music
is off-time with a lot of riffs following suit with the lyrical direction
and Far Eastern atmosphere herein. Which is a little odd to hear.
As soon as you get into a riff or groove, you kind of get a tribal
drum or Sitar to break the rhythm. Smoother transactions would make
them sound much better, in my opinion. Whatever the case may be, The
Firstborn are definitely for those daring metal extremists to endeavor... Rating: 81 Reviewed By: Thomas Mitchell |
