Blackfire - Beyond Warped Live Series

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 22 / 12 / 2005

Label: Immergent
Format: CD

intro

Powerful and agressive political punk rock, with DVD attached, from Native American group Black Fire

Black Fire are pissed off. Of course most rock bands are pissed off and those that aren’t hide it – it’s not good for your image if you’re not pissed off. Black Fire, however, hail from the Navajo Nation. They are part of an ethic group in a situation as similarly poor as the US afro-Caribbean population with endemic levels of poverty, alcoholism and other problems. They are, as one track here points out, “exiled in the land of the free.” This background adds some bite to this political rock with anger levels up around Machine Head, although sonically this generally sounds more closer to Soundgarden-meets-Rage Against the Machine. There is a pleasing refusal to stick to one narrow rock vein – the female vocal contribution to ‘Possibility’ actually has the effect of making it sound like late 90s indie-power pop – but in a good way. Unfortunately this does mean they stray into ska – but only briefly on one track. Occasional Native American musical parts sound rather tacked on, which is a shame but generally this is a solid, interesting and different release. Although recorded live you would never know it apart from the one brief call to the crowd – the sound technicians must have been having a very good day. Although in no sense ground-breaking Black Fire more than sustain their momentum through the short half-hour running time. The audio part is interesting enough to make me genuinely annoyed that the DVD part of Beyond Warped – with live performances and political documentaries – didn’t work.

Track Listing:-