Earth Crisis - Firestorm (1993)^{Release ID: 4991}

Back in 2012 I had a close friend that was going through a pretty hard time on a personal level but had started to embrace metal music as a not only a form of release but also a way of connecting with me. We would head out to live shows quite often at the time & she was generally pretty open to learning about all styles of metal so there were often gigs that we attended where neither of us knew much about the headliners. One such gig would be an Earth Crisis show at Sydney's Manning Bar in February of that year & we bought tickets for it with plenty of time to spare so I decided to explore what Earth Crisis had to offer in the weeks prior. This led me to checking out all of the New York metalcore legends' back catalogue to the time in quick succession, starting with 1992's super-raw "All Out War" E.P. & finishing with their latest release to the time in 2011's "Neutralize the Threat" seventh album. While a few of their records left me fairly cold (see "All Out War" & the run of three albums from 1998 through to 2001), there were some entertaining listens to be had elsewhere with their peak period coming between 1993's "Firestorm" E.P. & their 1996 sophomore album "Gomorrah's Season Ends" (which was my favourite at the time). Earth Crisis ended up being pretty disappointing live & my friend found the violent crowd of dickheads to be pretty hard to tolerate so it wasn't the best night I've ever had but my relationship with a couple of Earth Crisis' best releases has been maintained & I've been looking forward to revisiting them again in recent times.

1993's "Firestorm" E.P. very much represents their coming of age as a band. While the "All Out War" 7" single sounds more like a demo, Earth Crisis' second proper release sees them being catapulted into the metalcore limelight with a vastly more mature & well-defined sound. The production job is excellent which gives the simple arrangements enough weight to hit the listener right in the chest with the band's tight & chunky New York hardcore-inspired riffage. Earth Crisis certainly stay well within their capabilities here as they were far from being virtuosos but they seem to really know their limitations & work well inside those parameters. In fact, the guitar work on "Firestorm" is particularly basic, so much so that virtually any guitar novice could tackle this material with confidence. But it's also entirely effective as the song structures are fluent & there's miles of room left to highlight the outstanding vocal prowess of angry front man Karl Buechner who I find to be comfortably the focal point of this release. His aggressive delivery feels entirely authentic & you'll genuinely believe that he's lived his lyrics.

The E.P. contains just the four songs, the first two of which are joined together & represented as the one lengthy track. All four are worth hearing but it's the first three that are where the real gold is here with the title track remaining as Earth Crisis' signature tune to this day. My personal favourite is mosh pit anthem "Unseen Holocaust" but I could just as easily have selected "Firestorm" or "Forged in the Flames" as there's not a lot between them. Closer "Eden's Demise" contains a few riffs that I consider to be a step down from the rest of the material on the E.P. but it's still more than acceptable so "Firestorm" is a rewarding & consistent release that sees Earth Crisis flexing their muscles with a newly found purpose.

So, is "Firestorm" Earth Crisis' best work? Well, I didn't think so up until now but perhaps I might have to reassess that position. One thing's for sure, I'm definitely more open to 90's metalcore now than I was when I first checked out the Earth Crisis back catalogue so I can see some of my scoring being bumped up a bit. I'd also suggest that any neck-tattooed, ear-stud wearing metalcore kid worth their salt should have an appreciation for "Firestorm" as one of the fundamental building blocks of the scene they now love so much. Perhaps it's not significant enough to crack my top ten list but it's a thoroughly rewarding & entertaining listen that never over-extends itself & stays right in Earth Crisis' comfort zone for its entire fifteen-minute duration.

For fans of Disembodied, Living Sacrifice & Merauder.

Another addition to my "most essential metalcore albums from the 90s" is the 1993 EP from Earth Crisis, Firestorm! This war cry of an EP was a twist in underground hardcore. This band, along with Vision of Disorder and Snapcase, would metallize hardcore away from the outdated Youth Crew scene. Firestorm would build the metal bridge into a new 90s wave of hardcore/post-hardcore, updated into a different genre, metalcore!

Firestorm has the kind of objective Earth Crisis have in much of their material; sending a message via music. The EP unleashes underground anger, and they don't do it without reason. They rage out on different topics that have tainted the world, all while remaining rock-stars (or metalcore stars).

Karl Buechner indirectly screams out that kind of message in the popular title track, "A chemically tainted welfare generation, absolute complete moral degeneration". The track is indexed together with "Forged in the Flames", an incredible anthem for The Revolution. "Unseen Holocaust" has a catatonic breakdown, but the rest of the song drives on through the sonic assault of Karl's vocals as he addresses indigenous people and their risk of genocide and relocation. "Eden's Demise" tries to teach us that veganism might be the way to save the environment. Is that Straight Edge or what!?

In the end, Earth Crisis is never a band to sell out to expand their audience. Firestorm pleases the fanbase they have and would expand with pure simple 90s metallic hardcore. The band would later experiment with other different territories in music, but no 90s metal/hardcore discovery journey would be complete without Earth Crisis, and this 15-minute EP is their very definition. Firestorm is a brave essential release that can be used as a less deadly but equally good-feeling alternate to weapons!

Favorites: "Firestorm", "Forged in the Flames"