Feed The Fire – Maybe You Need This!? (Album Review)

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Gareth Williams

Feed The Fire – Maybe You Need This?!
Released: February 26, 2021

Line up:

Dan Pearce | Guitar and Vocals
Paul Clements | Bass
Joel Keen | Drums

When it comes to The Arts, Adelaide punches well above its weight, this sleepy little city has bred some great bands and musicians over the years. So when Feed The Fire’s debut album Maybe You Need This?! landed on my desk I was more than a little interested. I’d already copped an earful of the first single ‘Haunted House’ way back in March 2020 – it seems like a lifetime ago. Appearing as the second track this hard rocker is pretty much all you need to know about where the South Australian trio fit on the musical spectrum. A hooky chorus combined with crunching heavy guitars and driving groove. There’s no experimental fruity proggy arrangements here, this is balls out rock n roll.

That’s not to say the band is one dimensional, it’s not. The third cut ‘Blood Red Sea’ brings the tempo down a notch or two with Paul Clements bass playing giving off Steve Harris vibe circa ‘Infinite Dreams’. The gentle groove along with the addition of piano adds a nice touch of lightness to the album with the song slowly building to a crescendo before easing into a stripped back acoustic outro. The gentle touch doesn’t last long with the following couple of tracks back to full steam ahead, this is where we find the second single ‘DOA’. To say Feed The Fire are guitar driven is an understatement, this track like many of the other hard rockers on this album is riff city. It’s unrelenting driving groove sweeps the listener up and takes them for a ride before Dan Pearce drops in a killer solo with enough wah pedal to make Kirk Hammett jealous.

The whole album emits a decidedly old school vibe while still having a modern edge. Feed The Fire are a trio with an abundance of talent and a deep respect for those that came before. Each of the 13 tracks takes a little of the old, a dash of the new and a good dose of their own unique style. The seventh cut ‘Effigy’ is a perfect example of this, the song delivers more groove, Joel Keen’s drum sound has a thundering floor tom sound with an unrelenting beat while Pearce’s vocals are dirty and gritty. The boys shake off the dirt with a surprisingly gentle track of ‘No Plans’, it’s completely stripped back to just Dan Pearce’s angst ridden vocal delivery an acoustic guitar and lashings of emotion.

There’s no doubt the South Australians put their hearts and souls into this debut release and what they’ve delivered is 13 tracks worthy of inclusion to any heavy music fans collection. The question is asked in the title Maybe You Need This?! Take it from me, you do.