Thematically, this is something very serious, showing in its language noticeable avidity. There is an urgency to what feels like a mind fixed on the end of the world. Most of this work is either comparable to a blank stare in sound, or a drone of perseverance. It is another one of those sparks of the initial kind, the debuts that show real promise. There’s a range of styles that is covered well for a beginning project. From Power Electronics, to Death Industrial, to a couple of warmer, Skinny Puppy-like moments that show the most potential.
Warmer, but still there is always the more frigid undercurrent of almost every other song on this album. One that stood apart from the rest of the album for me personally is “Threshold’s Edge”. This really harkens back to the days of “Too Dark Park” in its atmospheric construct, but it also has a very desolate and almost beastly synth-bass rhythm, a slow one, that is the scaffold of one heartfelt track. This is the seventh track. Before this, pieces like “Elusive Truth” are dirty drones of sorts. The one after that is more synth-driven, noisier. It’s obvious these songs were constructed to be rabble-rousing. The finer ones, to inspire. The final track is one for such, as well.
The production is raw. Given the messages of the work, this is a good thing. It is based in immediate reality, even though the compositions are born of seemingly existential musings. There is no reason, though, that Stephen Millard shouldn’t keep making strides. I can sense many, based on this effort, from this work in the future. This is stern, but without being overzealous. It is difficult to tell where things can go from here, seeing as Mr. Millard shows aptitude with more than one color of tone and creation, but pressing forward is all I can say is in order.
Rating: 3/5
Journalist name: Rexington Steel
Artist: Knot of Fire (US)
Label: Peasant Spring Recordings (US)
Format: CD
Cat. #: PSR01
Genre: Industrial/Noise
Tracklisting:
1. A Critical Time
2. Where Will You Be
3. Incision
4. Elusive Truth
5. Forward
6. One Injustice
7. Threshold’s Edge
8. Beyond Destination
9. All Is Well With The World
10. Driven On A Whim
