Fuel
Sunburn

THE REVIEW

Anger, despair, loneliness. These are the first words that come to mind when I think of Fuel, and specifically about their debut album, 'Sunburn' dated 1998.

The Fuel were one of the many American rock bands born riding that great wave that hit and submerged the USA starting from gray Seattle. Formed in 1989 in Brownsville, in the rural areas of Tennessee, by guitarist Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Abercrombie, initially under the name Small The Joy; the band, after recruiting singer Brett Scallions, emigrated in 1994 to Pennsylvania, in search of their first record deal, assuming in that same year, after the entry of drummer Jody Abbot, the definitive name Fuel. Over the next three years, the band rehearsed for their debut by releasing as many as 5 EPs; until, in 1998, thanks to the commercial success of the single 'Shimmer', the group finally managed to enter the studio, to record this debut album under the big Sony label.

'Shimmer', the album's signature song, which starts slow and vulnerable and then gains momentum in the bridge, turns out to be a successful and easily digestible song, which guaranteed that recognizability, combined with easy appeal, which was the launching pad for the group's ambitions. The album then unfolds between the dark and reflective rhythms of 'It Come To This', and the passionate crescendo of the title track, which carries the song from the delicate chords of the verses to the emphasis of the chorus, with singing suspended halfway between anger and anguish of the singer; contrasting with the positivity of the electrifying opener 'Untitled' and the brightness of 'Song For You', a truly moving track with another memorable chorus. There are also heavier and tighter tracks, such as 'Jesus Or A Gun', a tough song both musically and lyrically, likely inspired by the many 'peace' campaigns undertaken by their homeland's armed forces; the driving 'Bittersweet', or the less incisive 'New Thing', 'Mary Pretends', and 'Ozone', with ever-explosive rhythms, without giving up the usual melodic openings always present in the choruses.

The album closes with the wonderful 'Hideaway', a (semi-)acoustic and nihilistic jewel that truly devastates in depth for the atmosphere full of unease and anticipation that the band manages to recreate, between guitar notes sometimes sweet, sometimes more aggressive, and the suffering and distant voice of singer Brett Scallions.

'Sunburn' reveals itself as a convincing debut, expressing the true soul of the group, one forged from years and years spent playing even in the worst bars and clubs, hoping and waiting to make it; this despite the subsequent album, 'Something Like Human', released two years later, surely being valid and containing what are probably their most successful songs, namely 'Hemorrhage (In My Hands)' and 'Bad Day', but sounding already more elaborately planned and less sincere than this debut; more influenced by the modern rock sounds already dominant in America of those years, riding the wave of bands like Creed, Staind, Goo Goo Dolls or Alter Bridge, whose influences would become even greater in the subsequent 'Natural Selection'.

In the years following 2003, the band encountered a continuous revolution, which first saw the departure of singer Brett Scallions and drummer Miller; after replacing them with Tommy Stewart and Toryn Green, the group released their fourth album, 'Angels And Devils' (2007), which received good commercial feedback. After the tour of that year, however, the group seemed to stagnate due to problems with the record label, until former singer Brett Scallions formed a new band with bassist Jeff Abercrombie, called 'Refueled'; which, after some years, following an agreement between the singer and former guitarist Carl Bell, would revive the old Fuel brand, to keep alive at least the memory of a group that perhaps came too late, compared to the times, to reap the successes and acknowledgments it would have deserved, even outside the States.