It’s difficult to pin Rival Fire down to a certain genre. On face value, they’re an alt-rock band – but on War, they seamlessly jump across sounds, finding the perfect balance between in-your-face riffs and synth-heavy ballads.
Opener Slave establishes their debutas a rock album first and foremost. This feeds directly into standout track Riot, which begins with Rob Farnham’s solitary commanding vocals, setting the song’s beat. He invites listeners onto the warpath, with both the lyrical content and its delivery an impassioned battle cry.
Dreams completely moves away from this sound, beginning with a slow piano lead before brooding drums kick in. Take the Fall opens with a riff that wouldn’t be out of place in an old Western, there are hints of metal on Doctor and Addiction, and synths at the start of Memories leave it sounding like an EDM track.
Each song is firmly Rival Fire, with Farnham’s vocals the connecting force between them all. Cliché as it may be, there really is something for everyone here. War is a solid, no-frills rock album. What you hear is what you get with Rival Fire – a group of guys totally committed to their shifting sounds, while staying true to their rock roots.
