CLEANBREAK – We Are The Fire (2024) *HQ*
Since their 2022 debut album Coming Home, CLEANBREAK has continued to craft music that pays homage to more traditional American heavy metal sounds like Riot and Fifth Angel. ”We Are The Fire”, the band’s upcoming second chapter via Frontiers Music, continues that trajectory, again showing off the immense talent of both singer James Durbin (ex Quiet Riot) paired with guitarist Mike Flyntz (Riot V). They are joined by Alessandro Del Vecchio (Edge of Forever, Hardline, Vanden Plas) on bass, keyboards, and backing vocals while Nicholas Papapicco (Robin McAuley, Toby Hitchcock) completes the line-up on drums.
Here, Cleanbreak once again comes up with some incredibly listenable heavy metal thunder.
At times the parts are working better than the sum, and Durbin and Flyntz are in top form throughout, even when the standard of the songs dips a little. But even when the lyrics clunk – and they do, more than once – the music rarely fails to hit home, with Durbin coming up with some truly inspiring vocal melodies.
The big ballad Love Again, fueled by some impressive orchestration from former Frontiers eminence Alessandro Del Vecchio and featuring Flyntz’ best solo work on the album, shows Durbin’s massive talent off to full, hair-raising effect, but the best track here, the utterly marvelous Deal With Yourself, goes beyond even these high standards and is, quite possibly, the best thing Durbin has committed to wax thus far in his career.
Put simply, had Deal With Yourself been released in 1983, it would now be hailed as a trad metal classic, but it wasn’t, so it won’t, further adding to the suspicion that Durbin is indeed a man born out of time. Which is a shame, because he seems doomed to never quite reap the rewards his undoubted talent demands.
Still, that won’t matter to the small but committed bunch of headbangers, earthdogs, rivet heads, hell rats and metal maniacs that do appreciate the man’s skills, and when he launches into the Rage For Order-styled mayhem of Start To Breathe it’s hard to resist to urge to punch the air and bellow along with one of the most sincere men ever to pick up a mic for metal.
Highly Recommended
01. Warrior’s Anthem
02. Never Gone
03. Unbreakable
04. Can’t Lose Hope
05. Breathless
06. Deal With Yourself
07. Love Again
08. Bide Our Time
09. Start To Breathe
10. We Are The Fire
11. Resilience In Our Souls
James Durbin – vocals
Mike Flyntz – guitars
Alessandro Del Vecchio – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Nicholas Papapicco – drums
Pre order:
amazon.com/We-Are-Fire-Cleanbreak/dp/B0D9P73R9H
