ALBUM REVIEW: Be The Fire & Wish For The Wind – Toxicon
Pushing the boundaries of modern metal, Australian five-piece TOXICON are set to release their new album, Be The Fire & Wish For The Wind. Focusing on the struggles we face every day, whether that is as the human race or on a more personal level, honest lyrics are paired with intricate riffs to create their distinct sound.
Starting off with track one, (dis)Connect, the sound that is created gives off some BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE vibes, with vocalist Wayne Clarris having a strong grit to his voice that makes a mark. There is no waiting around with this one; you’re thrown straight into it, with chuggy riffs and powerful drums lying ahead of you. Clarris’ uncleans could also be compared to those of TRIVIUM’s Matt Heafy, mixing aggressive gutturals with melodic symphonies. There are lots of layers to the track, creating a large concoction where nothing feels out of place.
One of the singles for the album, Parallelysis, speaks about the struggles of balancing everyday life stresses. It’s hard to imagine how much pressure there is on artists in the music industry, and trying to deal with their own personal problems adjacent to their career must be difficult. This track gives us a look into that mindset, accompanied by a cool mix of elements throughout. The introduction consists of an understated riff in the background, strong guitar in the front and constantly growing rhythms. This, paired with raspy and gritty vocals not only from Clarris but also the other band members, makes for an impressive track. We’re then treated to a guitar solo, playing off of the fast paced rhythms and switching up the pace every now and then to add to the flow of the song.
Deletist switches things up a bit, introducing some slow and grungy riffs mixed with accentuated higher toned chords. The halftime beat creates a real head bopper which would make this a great song to see the band play live. The lyrics speak about how far gone we are as a community, and how we need to save us from ourselves. The higher powers want us to fight between ourselves, which in turn makes things harder to fix, only furthering the black hole we’re entering. This is a very current topic, with the likes of global warming and hate taking over, the lyrics here encourage us to reflect on what we’re doing and to try and change for the better.
The title of this release is actually made up of two of the track’s names. Firstly, Be The Fire has more of a prog sound to it – the guitars especially in this song add to this. It has a very impactful sound overall, and again makes a statement with the self aware lyrics. It is important that lyrics in songs have some sort of meaning; you could have the best sounding instruments in the world but if your lyrics are meaningless it takes away from the overall listening experience. Heartfelt lyrics can really resonate with fans, and talking about important topics such as the state of humanity and how we need to improve is really impactful.
The second half to the album title is the last track, Wish For The Wind. Again this is more of a prog song; however it uses more melodic elements to contrast with the previous track which had more of a thrash leaning. The atmospheric melodies that echo around add to the helplessness of the lyrics, speaking about feeling lost and needing closure. The two songs work well together, representing the mixture of genres that TOXICON plays around with on this record, whilst still being in keeping with the sentimental lyrics which really make the listener stop and think.
Rating: 8/10
Be The Fire & Wish For The Wind is set for release on September 2nd via self-release.
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