Colour Of Fire
Pearl Necklace

A dazzling debut in 2004 with an LP (the present "Pearl Necklace"), after a few singles and an EP, and then the breakup. This brief phrase can easily summarize the brief (but intense) artistic history of the English band Colour Of Fire, an alternative rock group that, now five years ago, struck me with this album.

Nothing complex: a fast and aggressive rock, often strengthened by sharp guitars and varied by the alternating vocals of two singers, Owen and Stuart (sometimes more poignant, other times abrasive and on the verge of screaming), a few ballad-like tracks (never too sappy) and many great, charged, and angry songs, never too long and with an immediate impact (though not at all predictable). This formula works wonderfully for all eleven episodes that make up the album, consistently maintaining a high level, keeping the listener's attention alive and enabling them, already by the second listen, to recall most of the choruses: not necessarily a bad thing if the quality of the work is more than good.

Want to get an idea of our sound? The opening "Robot Rock" is for you. The charged, full-bodied, angry, engaging sound, the truly well-crafted chorus, and the breaks between verses make it a track you definitely won't want to skip in subsequent listens.

Among the tracks to mention, "The Exile" (especially engaging in its finale, which intensifies the basic line of the entire track highlighting the vocal talents of the two singers), "Italics", "A Pearl Necklace For Her Majesty" (certainly one of the best moments, a hypnotic blend of sweetness and anger), "The Company Won't Colour Me" and "Images Of You", probably the two most intense tracks of the entire album, slightly superior in quality to all the other tracks mentioned so far.

The first is perhaps the manifesto of the band's sound, probably the key to understanding all our influences. The second, on the other hand, is a bittersweet, melancholic, and touching ballad, which at certain moments reminds me a lot of the best Funeral For A Friend or Matchbook Romance, a nice ride that builds up to an impassioned choral finale.

I would have liked to see Colour Of Fire tackle the follow-up to this present work: a debut worthy of respect, an album that doesn't uncover anything new but can be listened to and relistened to for a long time, remaining fresh like the first time. And excuse me if that's not something.