Age Of Fire - "Children Of The Night"

Reviewed by Aaron Cloutier

Started in 1988 by founder/guitarist Greg Brown, the south Floridian band “Age Of Fire” draws from several styles in Metal and all the glorious sub-genres within. From thrash and prog to even melodic and symphonic metal, Age Of Fire have set out to leave their stamp on the Metal genre as a whole.

Unlike the breakneck tempos and chaotic compositions of their contemporaries, Age of Fire eschews the typical trappings and opt for a more groove-laden, half-time feel on “Children Of The Night”. To my ear, the tempo is very reminiscent of something you might hear off of “The Law” from groove metal champions Exhorder.

Despite their old-school metal influences, there is great attention paid to a more traditional pop song structure on this tune. The traditional verse, pre-chorus, chorus song form serves to balance out the heaviness in a sense and gives “Age Of Fire” a more anthemic feel.

The main riff kicks in at the beginning of the song like a sledgehammer. The sludgy feel and slight down tuning create a vibe that instantly got my head bobbing and gave me the face that you make after that first shot of whiskey. Trust me, I mean that as a compliment if there’s any confusion about that haha.

The verses are gloriously heavy with a huge kick drum sound locking in with the seismic bass and chunky palm-muted riffs. The snare has a distinctive crack to it which cuts through the dense low end quite nicely. Over the top, you’ll hear vocals spinning tales of impending demise at the hands of what I’m guessing to be vampires. The vocal delivery itself calls back to the aforementioned thrash influences for sure. To me, the performance sounds like it’s heavily inspired by Overkill’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth and Exodus’ Steve “Zetro” Souza. Can’t go wrong with that!

The pre-chorus riff has some cool Testament influences incorporating tasty pinch harmonics and satisfying bends before jumping into the chorus that will undoubtedly get audiences chanting “Beware the children of the night!” in the clubs.

If that wasn’t enough, listeners will be greeted with a mighty guitar solo featuring some tasteful noise and precise two-handed tapping.

In short, if you like your metal served up raw with a nod to the old school, “Children Of The Night” is worth a spin. Horns up!

"Children of the Night" will be released on this coming Halloween!

Connect with Age of Fire and check out their merchandise on Facebook

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Check out more tunes and videos on Youtube

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About Age of Fire

Formed in South Florida in 1988, Age of Fire set out to create their own style of Heavy Metal. To date, they have music that touches on thrash, symphonic, melodic and progressive metal. Having played clubs throughout the East Coast and Florida, they disbanded in 1991 but were resurrected by founding member Greg Brown in 2018. Since then, their music has been heard on over 1,000 traditional and satellite radio stations around the world. The band continues to be featured in international media including Metal Hammer (Portugal), The Metal Mag (Europe), Fireworks (UK), Hard Music Base (Czechoslovakia), Permafrost (Norway), Dead Rhetoric (USA/Sweden), Bunker (Russia), Iron Backstage (USA), Battlehelm (USA/UK/Sweden), High Speed Hangover (UK), Encyclopaedia Metallum (Canada) and Megadeth’s Megacruise. They are represented by SWC Global Media LLC, endorsed by Solar guitars and Dirtbag clothing.

For booking and press contact: Tina Watkins (Tina@itnsradio.com 877-726-1792 Ext 1001)

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