Colour Of Fire - 'Pearl Necklace' (Riverman Music) Released 09/08/04

They’ve supported the likes of Placebo and Silverchair and rock legend Slash wears their t-shirts; Colour Of Fire started out in 2001 as Owen Richards and Stuart Jones, later adding rhythm section Matt Lunn and Thom Craigen to their ranks.  After a couple of years building their reputation locally in York, and refining their sound, they’re unleashing debut album ‘Pearl Necklace’.

Metal riffing is aplenty on this record, but what becomes noticeable is the high quality of the songs.  It’s like Lost Prophets but much more melodic, which means there's definitely a market for this band.  ‘Robot Rock’ sets the tone, heavy guitars and ferocious vocals that are repeated in songs such as ‘A Couple Of Reasons’ and ‘9 Volter’.  ‘The Exile’ tones things down slightly but has an excellent hook and chorus, while also displaying a talent for writing lyrics that are worth listening to – which is consistently displayed throughout ‘Pearl Necklace’.  ‘Second Class Citizen’ is another example of this, as well as being a storming tune.

As if to show the band is no one trick pony, they venture in a different direction for ‘Images Of You’, a ballad of a failed relationship.  The vocals are softer, but the song is as hard-hitting as anything on the record.  ‘Candles’ sees the appearance of an acoustic guitar, but is no less of an anthem than many of the other tracks, simply because of Colour Of Fire’s knack for writing good hooks and choruses.  It's this talent that should see them become huge.