{"id":37529,"date":"2014-02-15T17:08:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-15T22:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=37529"},"modified":"2014-02-16T08:45:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-16T13:45:58","slug":"livin-fire-under-the-spell-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/livin-fire-under-the-spell-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Livin Fire | Under The Spell<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"LivinWhat the recent years have brought \u2013 apart from the obvious \u201880s nostalgia and the trend of retromania \u2013 is the growing number of contemporary rock\/metal acts and young musicians who don\u2019t deny their classic hard rock roots (and their having a soft spot for the \u201880s music scene as well.) On the contrary, even their oldschool, retro-influenced sound speaks volumes about their musical upbringing! One of such is Livin Fire, a Cracow-based female-fronted quartet from Poland. And although one may associate the \u201880s with the \u201ccandied\u201d, pop-oriented and radio-friendly rock\/metal, what Livin Fire successfully adopts is the toughened sound, heavily inspired with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal music aesthetics. The sound on their first EP Under The Spell<\/em> is feisty and straight-in-your-face, deeply rooted in the classic metal acts of the almost forgotten era. <\/p>\n

Under The Spell<\/em> opens with an eponymous instrumental track \u2013 and so starts a listener\u2019s journey back into the world of the \u201880s heavy metal. It continues with \u201cVampire\u2019s Kiss\u201d, perfectly representative to the band\u2019s actual potential \u2013 it introduces the band\u2019s charismatic lead singer and guitarist Alda Re\u00ef belting out the following verses in her aggressive manner as well as the powerful instrumental section. Rough and unpolished though it is – there is a certain catchiness to the track\u2019s chorus, clearly inspired by the unforgettable rock hooks of the \u201880s era. <\/p>\n

\u201cLone Wolf\u201d, the second song on the album, starts off with an intense drum line joined by a feisty guitar riff, yet \u2013 the track turns out to be slightly weaker than its predecessor. \u201cTorn\u201d sounds like a Dio-era Sabbath outtake, with its characteristic, \u201celephant marching\u201d riff \u2013 and there is an interesting dialogue between the screechy guitar and a pumping bass in \u201cWitch\u201d. \u201cThe End\u201d follows the scheme of its predecessors \u2013 rough, screaming vocals and aggressive shredding against the background of a dynamic rhythm section, that is \u2013 the band\u2019s trademark sound and the one it will hopefully continue with in the future.<\/p>\n

With their newly released EP, the female-fronted dynamic quartet from Cracow proves that they\u2019re worth a listener\u2019s attention. Although limited to five songs (and the instrumental intro) only, young musicians seized the opportunity to make out of Under The Spell<\/em> a showcase of their potential (especially the lead guitarist J.K. Shredd and the singer, Alda Re\u00ef \u2013 who remind me at times of the early Lee Aaron records). Their music is nothing new and may be repetitive at times \u2013 but the power of this EP is in its old school, rough sound Livin Fire skillfully adopts. Anyone who is into the early Accept, Holocaust, Girlschool, Scorpions etc. as well as female-fronted hard rock\/heavy metal should acquaint themselves with their material. Recommended. <\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Metal<\/p>\n

Band line-up:
\nAlda Re\u00ef \u2013 vocals, guitar
\nJ. K. Shredd \u2013 lead guitar
\nAlvaro \u2013 bass
\nMatt B. \u2013 drums<\/p>\n

Tracklist:
\n1.\tUnder The Spell
\n2.\tVampire\u2019s Kiss
\n3.\tLone Wolf
\n4.\tTorn
\n5.\tWitch
\n6.\tThe End<\/p>\n

Label: Independent<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/livinfire<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — What the recent years have brought \u2013 apart from the obvious \u201880s nostalgia and the trend of retromania \u2013 is the growing number of contemporary rock\/metal acts and young […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":37530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8289,1103,8836,2267,8837],"class_list":{"0":"post-37529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-ep-review","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-livin-fire","11":"tag-metal","12":"tag-under-the-spell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}