Embers of the Autumn - The Fireflys ALBUM REVIEW - by Mal Keenan
The last place you’d expect to find a tribute to everything rock would be the small town of Runcorn in Cheshire, but a band was formed and now after producing a third album, seems to have set their gearbox to full speed. A lesson to all to show that rocks roots are deep and wide spread and The Fireflys seem to have made it a mission to bring it to the masses.
Embers of the Autumn at first listen seems vaguely familiar, but at the same time had its own identity showcasing some top notch talent and deep and meaningful wisdom. The whole album is reminiscent of a varied range of rock spanning various decades, which is an accomplishment in itself. Unplayed Guitar kicks off with a great showcase of unique guitar, drums, and bass, which when the singing start are not overpowering allowing the vocals with meaningful lyrics to shine through. Every instrument adds to the song instead of subtracting as you find in some songs, making the song strong and great and easy to listen to. The vocals suit the song well, nothing too powerful but deep in emotion and range. A good choice to start the album, which if the audience listens to like an LP from start to finish, promises to be exceptional with plenty of experienced riffs, which is showcased in their second song Autumnsoul, which starts off with a deep strong riff, to set this song apart from the first and also to introduce you to the song. Like Unplayed Guitar, Autumnsoul has an amazing clean lead guitar throughout and is well balanced. Again with the deep riff, which is placed during a solo with the clean guitar, which rings true to me making me want more and more. The air guitarist in me likes this a lot. The verses and chorus incorporate a good blend of acoustic and sharp electric allowing the song to be powerful yet mellow. The haunting piano at the close goes hand in hand with the song completely. The vocals are more powerful then the debut song; Lee Wylding showing that he can warble like the best of them. Well done.
Hummingbird which starts with a bold acoustic and ukulele it think, not sure, but it’s adds a folk sound to the song and with the addition of the prominent simple drums further adds to this effect. It’s the kind of song that has you nodding your head in time with the beat; infectious mellow headbanging to the end along with the a simple kind of contentment inside hearing the happy light acoustic and soothing voice. Its easy to imagine you are audience to an intimate gig with friends, its that kind of song. The backing vocals beef up the main vocals, which is good to see and is what I thought was lacking with their previous albums. The song ends abruptly, unlike the previous two, making me want more, but ties in nicely with the start of Julianne, with its chorus of singers, drums and acoustic. The drums and acoustic set a nice tempo leading you through the song right up to the haunting Indian sitar style guitar, which you may think looks out of place, but kudos to The Fireflys for experimenting and showing that they are evolving all the time because it definitely works. Broken Pieces starts of with a John Frusciante (of Red Hot Chilli Peppers fame) style riff, which again showcases the diversity of Lee’s guitar playing capabilities. The chorus is a great song to sing-a-long to. At this point in the album, especially with this song, you get a feeling of long lost love and maybe perhaps unrequited love, which we all can relate to. The emotion is strong and is evident in many of the songs and again doesn’t like the tempo to carry it through.
The sixth song of the album Cemetary Song, whilst sounding a bit morbid, is far from it. Exceptional guitar riffs through the song and amazing vocals, the best of the album so far, bringing the album to a kind of crescendo, possibly leading up to a climax. This song sets itself apart from the others with its great lyrics, guitar and feel. I’d go so far to say it’s my favourite so far. Lee has unleashed his vocal potential with this song. I’d like to see an album full of Firefly’s songs just like this one. It has power and gusto. The guitar playing skills at the end are all kinds of “woah” and “wow”. Congrats for making a song worthy the charts. The pace doesn’t falter with Paper Plane¸ which comes across from the word go like a tribute to 80s rock, but is a great song in itself, with vocal effects added in for good measure. It’s a short emotional song telling a tale of unrequited love again. The song seems cut short towards the end where other songs in the album have been a bit overindulgent in their finales whether it be haunting pianos or major riffage. I’d have liked to have heard more then the 2.13 minutes offered, but looking at the prowess offered in other songs, its hardly a complaint. Theres more then enough great audio-lovin available to keep me satisfied. Saying that the album then goes straight into the “powerhouse” of the album, Der Riese. Meaty, powerful and amazing guitar set to a tempo akin to “Born to be Wild” it stirs the rocker in me from a coma brought on me by the middle road rock out in the charts at the moment. Its powerful guitar, drums and vocals marry very well. The chorus has me headbanging along with its drums which changes with the song showcasing the drummer, Andrea Packer and bassist Stephen Roberts to be very capable and experienced. This is the creshendo the album has been working up to from Unplayed Guitar seemlessley and it brings it ….. and then some.
Hannah’s Song, the aftermath of the rock bomb that was Der Riese, comes in nicely and doesn’t seem out of place. The song is mellow but at the same time has enough tempo to bring the song through nicely. The backing vocals add to the vocals as they should bringing you into the song and its emotion and with its length just over six minutes, its one emotional ride, but doesn’t at all leave you bored. A clean riff in the middle Hank Marvin style breaks up the song nicely and chorus at the end has a great bearing on the whole song. Between the Tide the final song of the album brings a nice, low key, mellow sound like that previous heard from 90s bands like Goo Goo Dolls, but like other songs in this album, have taken the style and made it their own. The song is written well and the lyrics do not seem forced with words just to fill voids within the song. The main riff is strong and very easy to listen to, again showcasing the experience and prowess of Lee’s talent. He produces guitar to get lost in. I sit back and close my eyes whenever I hear riffs like this (fewer and fewer these days). Amazing effort all round.
The whole album from start to finish appears to be well thought out, from its amazing beginning, Unplayed Guitar, building up to its amazing peak with Der Riese and aftermath Hannah Said and Between the Tides. The Lee, Andrew and Andrea take you on a voyage of love lost and unrequited love which is majorly evident in all of the songs. A wholly enjoyable album to listen to and it will take pride of place in my collection for a long while.
