ALBUM REVIEW: Signals Through The Flames – Ian Blurton

It was only on New Years Eve, as the year passed from 2018 to 2019 that Ian Blurton‘s FUTURE NOW had their first live outing in Toronto. Fast forward six months and Ian Blurton is on the cusp of releasing his debut album. But this record (or rather project) is no ordinary debut album, but instead what seems to be the culmination of decades of experience and inspiration boiled down into nine tracks of fizzing rock. Front person and mastermind behind Signals Through The Flames, Ian Blurton has been a icon on the Canadian music circuit for 35+ years and has played in just as many bands: fronting CHANGE OF HEAR, BLUTONIA, BIONIC, C’MON and the still active PUBLIC ANIMAL. And if that’s not impressive enough, Blurton has credits on over 100 albums, producing, mixing and engineering a whole host of career defining records from the likes of BLOOD CEREMONY and CURSED. So it’s about time he put out a solo record don’t you think?

Signals Through The Flames sees Ian Blurton collaborate with a number of his peers – including Mike Armstrong (KING COBB STEELIE), PJ Dunphy (IRON GIANT), Eric Larock (TRICKY WOO) and Glenn Milchem (BLUE RODEO) to name a few – and instead of creating a record that could have easily become a self-indulgent homage to ones past career, attempts to pay homage to the format of the power trio. As if drawn from another era, Blurton seems to strive on marrying influences from the past (think 70s hard rocks meets NWOBHM) and re-branding them as his own (aside from Days Will Remain where the guitar parts sound as if they’ve been ripped straight from THIN LIZZY’s Bad Reputation). Achingly 70s inspired guitar solos run rife throughout – most prominently on Eye Of The Needle, Seven Bells and ICQ – making way for chugging riffs that ultimately dip a toe into doomier waters.

At points you get the feeling that you’ve got no idea where Blurton is going to take you next sonically – where one moment he cosy’s down with the distorted rawness of garage-rock and naturally converts it into not-quite-psych-not-quite-heavy-metal before a barrage of slugging riffs take over, by the time you get to The March Of Mars it all starts to feel too familiar. Of course there no denying this man can write a hook – the choruses in Night Of The Goat and Days Will Remain are inescapable ear-worms – but in the former Blurton’s layered vocals offer an otherworldly feel that fails to transport you to another planet, but rather gives the fuzzy soundscape a grounding.

The real climax of the record appears in the form of Kick Out The Lights, a playful, punchy effort that sits somewhere comfortable into a void occupied by the question: is this psych, prog or heavy metal? The arrangement rallies around the bass, here becoming the driving force of hidden so delicately behind the mix of searing guitars it makes you want to reach out a touch it. It’s a track that has plenty of scope to hit eight minutes long rather than coming in just under the five-minute mark, as it teeters on the edge of becoming a glory infused jam that disappointingly ends far too soon.

Succeeding to produce a record that delves into the depths of rock influences, Signals Through The Flames is at times a fun, dizzying listen whose stand out tracks demand a repeat listen. But where Ian Blurton offers complete strokes of genius (the juicy layers in Kick Out The Lights or the doom ridden swathes of guitars in Seven Bells) there are also moments that feel like they’ve been caught in revolving wheel of repetitiveness. Whether that holds up above all the noise, we’ll see whether this release pushes it’s way to fore or fades away into the clutches of time.

Rating: 7/10

Signals Through The Flames is out now via Pajama Party.

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