When I received this album for review, I had never heard of City Of Fire at all. As I was going through their press materials, the sight of long-time Strapping Young Lad bassist Byron Stroud and his Fear Factory band mate Burton C. Bell on the press photos surprised me and got me immediately pumped. As it turns out, Stroud put City Of Fire together after a 2008 reunion of his old Vancouver-based band, Caustic Thought, utilizing those musicians plus Bell on vocals. The goal was to create a more mature and rock-inspired band to contrast his work in recent years with FF, SYL, and Zimmer’s Hole.

Well, mission accomplished. City Of Fire delivers what I suppose could be categorized as hard rock with big riffs, mid-paced groovy tempos, and melodic vocal lines. Where Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory are all about density and layers of sound, City Of Fire gives the notes and chords some breathing room, creating the heaviness through atmosphere and vibe rather than through pummeling. There is a certain air of mysticism and spirituality infused in City Of Fire that reminds me of The Cult and The Tea Party.

Bell’s work on vocals is very similar to what he does for Fear Factory, minus ninety percent of the growling. His unusual approach has always struck me as perfect for FF, as it matches the band’s robotic and mechanical rhythms. His voice works for City Of Fire, but lacks the emotional edge that most mainstream hard rock bands ride to massive commercial success. To his credit though, many of the vocal melodies on this album are very catchy even if the tone they are sung in could be a little more genre-appropriate. Weird note: the chorus of the closing track “Rain” keeps reminding me of The Payolas’ “Eyes Of A Stranger”. If you think I’m crazy, listen to the melody when he says: “Here comes the rain” and compare it to the notes on The Payolas’ melody over the words: “You’ve got the eyes”.

City Of Fire will not satisfy the cravings of die-hard metal fans looking for another dose of Fear Factory or Strapping Young Lad. For open-minded music fans though, City Of Fire provides an interesting alternative to the usual brutality, and fills up some of that listening time when you just can’t stand another blast beat or death growl. The album is by no means seminal, but it does show a lot of stylistic experimentation from seasoned veterans who could have otherwise been pigeonholed into one genre.

3.5/5