Fire Red Empress – 'Black Morphine' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Dead Nature

2. Giants

3. Half Bird Half Beetle Half Man

4. Under The Barren Light

5. Hail The Face

6. Seven

7. Black Morphine

8. The Little Death

9. Dear Mister

10. 11.59

11. Maldoror Part 1

12. Maldoror Part 2

Fire Red Empress are pretty new on the scene and having had a performance at Bloodstock that could only be described as ‘blistering’, they’ve released that energy and passion with their debut album; ‘Black Morphine’.

Seemingly taking heavy influence from Lzzy Hale’s vocals, and a good mix of bands in the Stoner Rock, Hard Rock and Grunge genres, Fire Red Empress have put out an impressive debut, leaving me looking forward to a follow up already.

Title track 'Black Morphine' is packed with catchy, punchy riffs, some of the best female raw vocals I think I’ve ever heard and melody that has you tapping your feet and nodding your head from the start. All of this leads to a very well written and put together track, well representative of the album as a whole. I can’t say there’s a bad track on the album, my personal favourite being ‘Giants’. A track that not only stops you in your tracks and makes you listen, but that sticks in your mind afterwards for the sheer musicianship and fantastic guitar work.

The slowest and most relaxed song on the album ‘Under The Barren Light’ shows a versatility to the band that showcases Jennifer Deihl’s real vocal talents as well as the ability to leave the heavy, grungy side of their work to one side, and produce something that is much more far-reaching.

If I had to find a negative, I’d say a lot of the tracks are similar in sound. However, for a band like this, it’s still a good thing. They have an excellent sound.

Overall, 'Black Morphine' is an excellent debut album, and a good sign of things to come from Fire Red Empress. If you’re a fan of female fronted Metal bands, I’d highly recommend paying a lot of attention to this band, hell, if you’re a fan of Metal at all really.