With this new band, Jade Tree Records is going to have one of the best roster of bands that a label ( and fans ) could want: think of Strike Anywhere, Girls Against Boys, New End Original, and other less famous like Milemaker, Pedro the Lion, The Explosion, and Mighty Flashlight on the same label. And Trial By Fire is nothing less, the label debut from this four guys was recorded by nobody but Brian Mcternan at the great Salad Days Studios, and the record shows not just all the good qualities of the band, but also the ability of Mcternan, who is producing like mad: Thrice, Movielife, New End Original to name a few.

Trial By Fire sounds quite similar to label mates Strike Anywhere, especially from the point of view of the lyrics and the social and political involvement, with a lot of tunes that tell a very specific analisis on the society of nowadays, just listen to “Threat to the Slave Trade”. Instead, from the point of view of the music, they are a bit different from Strike Anywhere: they play hardcore, alright, but their sound is much more tighter and somewhat less melodic that the one of the band from Richmond, maybe it is just my impression or the fact that the vocals are someway raw and also angry, but the when I say that these two bands does not play the exact music, well, all I say it’s a fact. To mention some songs, I’d say that the best things can be heard on tracks like “Point an Inward Finger”, “Test Pattern” and “To Whom It May Redeem”, with some quite fast guitar riffs, precise drum fills and everything a fan of hardcore punk music could want.

Of course, some say that Strike Anywhere and Trial By Fire play the same music and the same record, and some also say that Trial By Fire are just a copy; but consider that: a) if Trial By Fire’s album came out last year and Strike Anywhere came out this year, we’d be here talking of how Strike Anywhere was a copy of TBF, and b) it is no use accusing a hardcore punk band of playing like another band: it is all a matter of attitude and influences, and overall I think that “Ringing in the Dawn” is going to be one of the best hardcore album of 2002. |carlo@staff.truepunk.com