Fires In The Distance: Unity Within Melo-Death

Every so often an album comes along that appears to unite an entire collective of metal fans with its delivery. A collection of tracks, crafted and produced to such a standard that the title is suddenly on everyone’s lips and almost automatically becomes an inclusion in album of the year lists. Air Not Meant For Us from Connecticut four-piece FIRES IN THE DISTANCE is just such an album.

Like a bolt out of the blue for many, the nine tracks galvanised a vast swathe of the metal fanbase into heralding it’s release as a masterpiece and already many have begun to assemble AOTY around this record. As mentioned, it appears to come from nowhere. However, FIRES IN THE DISTANCE have been a force for several years and their lives as creative musicians stretches back further still. They released a debut full-length, Echoes From Deep November, in 2020 to critical acclaim and created a strong fanbase from that point on. But for those just discovering them, how could they best be defined?

“I’ve always looked at it to be an atmospheric, melodic death metal type thing. It’s meant to be an enveloping experience rather than a song or an album itself. A journey to be absorbed,” explains guitarist Yegor Savonin. Bassist/vocalist Craig Breitsprecher goes further with his opinion on the sound structure of the music. “I’ve seen it as a project that puts counterpoint and dynamics at the forefront as opposed to a lot of other melodic death and doom metal bands.” These last two point coupled with the overall impression of an atmospheric experience are certainly apt descriptors for the music. Certainly, on latest album Air Not Meant For Us which has really upped the dynamic delivery and all-encompassing soundscape. It is still very much melodic at heart with both band members expressing that as part of the key elements but developing on that more death and doom metal standard approach.

For anyone who is familiar with their work or has listened through to Air Not Meant For Us will understand how true these explanations are. As a collective piece, the dynamics play a huge role in what makes the music stand out from a conglomerate of peers playing already great melodic based death/doom metal. It’s interesting to note that this is a band that feeds off of audience response as well as their own passions to drive forward. “After we saw the reception for Echoes…, we all decided that we would be silly not to pursue it. The real deciding factor was playing it live. Getting to experience it on stage. Once we did that one first show in August 2018, and the crowd response, that was the green light moment,” states Yegor. “There were some feelings we had to come to terms with first as well,” notes Craig. “We had another active project that had been going for 10 years or so. I think we saw the writing on the wall and I joked that FIRES IN THE DISTANCE is the future man! [laughs]. We justified it when we went into the studio that this was a one-time project and we’ll see what happens.”  

And each member of the band has certainly combined to make Air Not Meant For Us sound as good as possible. Craig says “I think we felt that there was more at stake with this album. In the preparation this was the first album we’ve done that everything was pre-produced. There was much more care and detail put into this and it’s a record we’re proud of.”

Despite the apparent creative unity between band members internally coupled with the smooth band and producer relationship. Air Not Meant For Us was not an album without challenge. When asked, Craig smiles and states, “COVID, blizzards, it was a logistical nightmare. The day before studio time, COVID nearly shut the studio down. The engineer caught it and Dave took the sessions on solo. Then, leaving to head down there, there was a blizzard. On the way back there was a flash freeze in Pennsylvania, I was like man this record is trying to kill us! But once the red light was on it was so smooth, flawless once we actually got to the point of playing our instruments.”

When it comes to development, FIRES IN THE DISTANCE are not a static band. While Air Not Meant For Us contains the core DNA that was present on Echoes From Deep November, there are a lot of aspects that have evolved and elevated the sound to a new level. Yegor acknowledges this, “I can see the same sort of evolution happening here as in ARCHAIC DECAPITATOR. Based on history, I can see the third album not being something completely different but we’re not going to be the type of band that puts out the same album twice.” Craig also points towards new drummer Jordan Rippe as part of the sound development. “I think drums are the most important foundation in the record. He’s so consistent, he doesn’t overplay just because he can. I think he’s been a tremendous addition and you could pinpoint that as a difference in sound as there is a different drummer.” 

What is clearly apparent, is that this is a band of friends. Both Yegor and Craig agree that everyone gets on to a great extent and that really helps when they don’t get to rehearse together very much before studio time. The travelling and creativity is very easy going and of course they get on with the producer as well. This camaraderie also carries across to working with Prosthetic Records. As Craig explains, “you do hear horror stories of other bands within the industry, but we have none of that with Prosthetic. They’re so supportive and helpful. They’ve never told as how to write a riff or anything like that.” Yegor adds as well, that they’ve become friends with label mates ASTRALBORNE and FORETOKEN as well. Championing both their releases and stylistic qualities, “if I heard ASTRALBORNE twenty years ago, my head would’ve exploded.”

As a band with a strong creative direction and a vision to develop, it’s an exciting time to be a fan of FIRES IN THE DISTANCE. Given the strength of the ties between each of them and the outside professionals that they work with, it’s a safe bet that FIRES IN THE DISTANCE are a band that have struck gold.

Air Not Meant For Us is out now via Prosthetic Records.

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