Born Through Fire is a side project of “As I Lay Dying’s” vocalist Tim Lambesis and “Wolves At The Gate’s” guitarist Joey Alarcon. Tim and Joey have been friends for a decade and their collaboration on this album corroborates to many of their personal journeys. They’ve signed a worldwide deal with Seek And Strike and released their debut self-produced album “Purify and Refine” on the 7th of April 2023.
Tim quotes, “I write like I’m working in a journal and then I come back later and try to re-think how I can re-write that sentiment in a more poetic way. That’s why I tend to write more songs about who I want to be and how I want to grow, as opposed to songs about my current state.” “Our new album covers a lot of ground ranging from rhythmically brutal tracks that groove, catchy sing-alongs and thrash parts to the closest thing to a ballad I’ve done over 15 years.”
In 2013, Lambesis solicited murder by hiring a hitman to try to kill his now-ex-wife. The now-42-year-old singer was paroled in 2016 after serving two years of a six-year sentence, which followed his early 2014 guilty plea on a felony murder solicitation charge. He has since completed his parole requirements. Tim has been part of a team that started the non-profit group Reintegration for people who need help coming out of whatever their version of rock bottom might be.
The album opens up with “Reintroduction” with a cinematic soundscape leading to a narrative styled vocal delivery and changes tactics to delve into an operatic styled outro. Next we queue up on “Bone by Bone” which features Luke Holland on drums. The song is packed with a candid mix of heavy guitar riffs marred with guttural vocals for verse, melodic sing-along lyrics with choppy guitar riffs for chorus, and an operatic outro. “Blood Fire Pain” takes its time to build up and lashes out its listeners within a short span of time, fuelled with odd time signatures and crunchy guitar tones that flair up during solos, brings about great contrasting tones to the mix.
“The Reckoning” is the heaviest track on the album. The song is riddled with meaty guitar riffs, odd time signatured riffing paired with maddening blast beats sitting stoically on gut wrenching vocals; gives gooseflesh when we hit the melodic sing-alongs on the chorus, and to top it off the eclectic interlude was the icing on the cake. “Trapped Inside” feels like a jolt of energy being released at irregular intervals, plummeting guitar riffs sitting tight on drum rolls, I love how the melody plays out during the course of the song adding bouts of character to the song.
“Walk Through The Fire” carries on the momentum from its predecessors, has a sing along melodic vocal delivery and a surprisingly catchy guitar solo to its credit. I’m guessing “The Well” is from the Refine folder as it takes upon a deliberate change in style from the predecessors, the song feels more mellowed out with a great focus on clean vocals taking the front seat. “Beneath the Scars” goes back to the grain of the album, back to the powerhouse of blast beats muddled with crafty guitar riffs and a staccato guitar solo flaring up without a warning.
The guitar riffs on “We Closed Our Eyes” reminded me of Children of Bodom’s lead guitarist Alexi Laiho (sensing influence on this song). The song partakes in the formulaic and carries tremendous energy throughout the breadth of the song. We culminate the album with “Overcome” which feels like an outlier on the album, taking on a very different style, crisp guitar tones with added seconds (joy), and a blitzing guitar solo that finished off the debut album in style.
Production – The album is mixed, mastered and produced well. The bass is MIA but no complaints as it’s a side project and with the hope of more members eventually getting added to the roster.
Conclusion – This album is a mix of Metalcore, Heavy Metal and it flirted a bit with Thrash, Classic and symphonic metal too. Overall, a good album, give it a spin!
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by: Ankit Sood
Band Members:
Joey Alarcon – Guitar
Tim Lambesis – Vocals
Luke Holland and Others – Drums
Track Listing:
- Reintroduction
- Bone by Bone
- Blood Fire Pain
- The Reckoning
- Trapped Inside
- Walk Through The Fire
- The Well
- Beneath The Scars
- We Closed Our Eyes
- Overcome
Social Media: Facebook / Bandcamp
Video for ‘The Reckoning’
Video for ‘Trapped Inside’
