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The Firstborn - The Unclenching Of Fists


*
=Staff's pick

Torn From Within
To Roam The Endless Plains*
Perception
Path Of The Mindwalker*
Voyage
Fire Channels*
Movement For Practising The Way
The Roaring Voice Of The God Of Death*
Of Time And Its Absence
Ten Offerings To Mahakala*
Golden Libtation
Absolute*
The Unclenching of Fists


Genre Epic Death Metal
Bruno Fernandes
Vocals
Tracks 13
Paulo Vieira
Guitar
Runningtime 60 Min.
Nuno Gervasio
Guitar
Label Procon Media
Helder Malicia
Bass
Release 18 April 2005
Rolando Barros
Drums
Country Portugal
Gustavo Vieira
Keyboards
Similar artists ---

Portugal's The Firstborn have been around since -95, back then they called themselves Firstborn Evil. But after the recording of the Awakening Of Evil demo in -96 they refined it to The Firstborn. To be honest I must say that I haven't even heard this name before, so it was with a real dose of curiosity that I received the bands' third full-length from the Portuguese label Procon Media.

The Firstborn play death metal with an oriental touch, and it's quite a mighty epos that they bring forth. It has to be said that the progress to create and write The Unclenching Of Fists took four years. The Unclenching of Fists is no easy album to just listen through in haste. It demands total focus in order to make the music and message just and fair. The Unclenching Of Fists is a concept album that deals with lyrics in the world of Tantric Buddhism. Mainly based on the Tibetan book 'Book of The Dead' by Bardo Thödol. I aint no expert in this subject and the wisdom that lays within it, so I won't go on further into it.

The music has very many dimensions and has a lot to offer. Furious and traditional blast vs. grind with the growling vocals from Bruno Fernandes. But there are also many serious and depressive feelings that are represented in forms of very low tempo sections with chantings and cool voice arrangements, like on the slow and if I may say the beautiful Ten Offerings To Mahakala. Very competent song writing and skilled musicians. It's obvious that the main focus is not to play as fast as possible or being as heavy as it gets, instead the main focus for The Firstborn must have been to summon feelings, a thing they certainly have succeeded with. Epic Death Metal feels like a very good and fair description to their music. The music has more in common with the epic parts of Nile or even Emperor than the grinding and blasting parts from for example Suffocation. But The Firstborn offer so much more, the music is presented over a very wide spectrum. I would say that they during the length of the album are exploring every corner on the metal genre map. Perhaps even a bit to big in its shifting between the musical differences to give it a real high grade.

I could go on and on talking about this album but sometimes the music is too complex and is best described and experienced by buying and listening to it. A very interesting album, well worth to check out.

Production
Vocals
Compositions

7

7

8

 
Summary



7 chalices of 10 - Tim

Related links:

www.thefirstborn.net