Gothenburg, Sweden trio Firebreather’s 2019 Riding Easy Records debut album Under A Blood Moon was a powerhouse that most certainly established the band’s incendiary potential. But no one will be prepared for the suffocating onslaught that is Dwell In The Fog. While that album was in-your-face and raw, Dwell In The Fog rumbles and rages with a fury the band had only previously hinted at. Firebreather has a streamlined focus on driving, symphonic riffs in the vein of High On Fire, Inter Arma and their tour- and label-mates Monolord. The guitar and bass tones are, quite simply, entrancing. Paired with vocalist /guitarist Mattias Nööjd’s guttural yet melodic howls and drummer Axel Wittbeck’s groove based rhythms, their entire sound flows like thick, viscous lava. “The album is a cathartic journey inwards and a musical continuation from Under A Blood Moon, but with more emphasis on groove and feel,” Nööjd says. From the first notes of album opener “Kiss Of Your Blade” one will know exactly what he means. Like their preceding two albums, Dwell In The Fog was also recorded and mixed by engineer Oskar Karlsson at Elementstudion in Gothenburg. The band is joined by new bassist Nicklas Hellqvist on this album, who seems to have increased the thunder rumble tenfold. From the aforementioned album opener “Kiss Of Your Blade”, with its droning opening chords over a rollicking tom pattern, the band quickly shifts gears into a head-bobbing, serpentine riff with a transcendent melodic hook. Elsewhere, as...
LP $22.00
05/20/2022
CD $12.00
05/20/2022
Fire is what happens when a carbon based object is consumed by oxygen. That chemical reaction is fitting to the sound of Firebreather: the riffs are suffocating, the rhythms fast-moving and all-consuming. It’s so blindingly and deafeningly monolithic, don’t be surprised to be gasping for air while listening. The Gothenburg, Sweden trio has a streamlined focus on driving, symphonic riffs in the vein of High On Fire, Inter Arma and their tour and label-mates Monolord. The guitar and bass tones are, quite simply, entrancing. Like watching flames engulf a forest, the billowing guitar tones are simultaneously beautiful and destructive, while the rhythms sway and lunge with vicious precision. “It’s riff-based, heavy as fuck, but with a groove to it,” explains vocalist / guitarist Mattias Nööjd, formerly of popular Swedish doom merchants Galvano. “We had gotten off a tour with Monolord in February of 2018 and by that time we had the song ‘Firebreather’ done,” but soon thereafter new drummer Axel Wittbeck joined the fold. “Once Axel had joined, it was like the flood gates opened,” says bassist Kyle Pitcher. “The rest of the album just came together.” Under A Blood Moon was recorded at Elementstudion in Gothenburg with engineer Oskar Karlsson, who also recorded the band’s lauded 2017 self-titled debut on Suicide Records.
CD $12.00
09/27/2019
2XLP $28.00
10/11/2019