The Fierce and the Dead - Magnet

It’s been two years since we’ve heard new music from one of the most mind-blowing instrumental group, The Fierce and the Dead. They are for me, powerful, exaggerating, and eruptive to give you the ultimate unexpected momentum with a dosage of shock treatment. This year, they have released their new EP from the Bad Elephant Music label entitled, Magnet. They have been around for five years now and there is absolutely no stop sign for them to see where they will go next into.

There are six tracks on the new EP which include three new compositions that will make you embark on the jump for hyper-speed of a sonic-post-rock adventure into unbelievable results. It is mesmerizing, melodic, compelling, and irresistible. Matt Stevens’ guitar just hits you in the stomach whenever he would come up with heavy and melodic moments that would send the gods more rain and thunder with electrical vibes to have a stunning surprise.

The earth-shattering Palm Trees creates the mood between good and evil with a dystopian atmosphere creating calm and ominous sinister tones to see where the band would go into. At first it starts off with a joyful melody in the styles of Knifeworld before it ascends up into the clouds with a soaring sound before it transforms into a cavernous sound from Kevin Feazy’s fuzztone bass and then ending in a disturbing climatic crescendo.

Throttle, driven, and with a mid-fast tempo, the opener, Magnet in your Face is a post-punk adventure between rhythm and lead from Steve Cleaton and Matt as they go into a punching rhythm/lead section to see where they would go into while the essence resembling the touches of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis gives it a landscaping ambient/atmosphere before heading into the electronic drumbeat into the future for Part 6 (The Eighth Circuit).

It is almost as if The Fierce and the Dead were making an alternate soundtrack to Blade Runner for this composition and it works out well. The re-recording of Flint which originally appeared on their debut album, If It Carries on Like This We Are Moving to Morcambe back in 2011, is very spacey and has a catchy rhythm thanks to the drumming techniques of Stuart Marshall as he takes center stage throughout the piece.

The other two tracks (Let’s Start a Cult and Spooky Action) are recorded live during their rehearsals. And you can tell that listening to these compositions, they are having a blast as it’s a Punk-Prog-Math Rock adventure to go into those stop-and-go sections and punch it down perfectly! And not to mention their homage to The Stranglers in the last track is a real treat for the first minute before the relaxing section and going off into the heavens to close it off into the late ‘70s Post-Punk sound.

Complex, powerful, and fascinating, The Fierce and the Dead are back in action again. And they will be playing at the Arctangent festival with the Dillinger Escape Plan, Deerhoof, Emma Ruth Rundle, and 65daysofstatic to name a few on August 20^th to the 22^nd of this year. So it is going to be in the big leagues now for the group. Magnet is a welcoming EP for the group and I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

And if they have a lot more coming up, I hope they have a lot of magic tricks in their sleeves to see what they will do next.