Everyone who is a bit familiar with the christian hard/metalcorescene surely must have heard of the metalcore band Fit For A King from Dallas, Texas, I will use the abbreviation FFAK from now on, and if you don’t have heard of them before I suggest you stop reading now and start listening to FFAK first. This being said, you will probably understand by now already that I am a big fan of FFAK. One of the things that is important to know about this new album is that there is a new bass player/clean vocalist, Ryan O’Leary who got the nickname ‘Tuck’. The bass will probably not be noticed but the clean vocals sound really different on this album. Why former bassist Aaron Kadura left the band is best being said in his own words that he placed in a reaction on facebook:
“Just so everyone knows, I’m not in the band because I’m not a Christian and I decided to live my life by a code of ethics that was always there but I was hiding from the band. I loved the members and I loved what I did. That’s what mattered. Not the beliefs behind it and not the lifestyle that followed. And there are 2 sides to every story. My life changed drastically overnight and I had no reason to fight it. What should matter is how the music sounds. And the fact that the new singer sounds great. Old Fit shouldn’t matter. New Fit is here”.
This album, which is their third that came out on Solid State Records, was produced by Will Putney (Suicide Silence, Miss May I). They said that ‘Slave To Nothing’ promised to be their biggest sounding and most cohesive work to date. With the former two albums in mind we will see if this album lives up to the expectations.
It all starts with ‘Kill The Pain’, immediately you can hear that FFAK as a band have grown, the song is more versatile then we hear a lot in metalcore nowadays. I think this goes for the whole album. Yes it is still metalcore with it’s breakdowns and catchy choruses which are very hard to get out of your head, not that I want to though. It is obvious that they have a new clean vocalist who puts a whole new mark on the songs. To be honest I had to get used to his voice, but now I am I see him as an asset.
Further I have the idea that I hear more musical influences than I did before. For example, I hear some nu-metal and rock but also a very heavy sound which sometimes touches even extreme metal, for instance in the heavy and aggressive title track ‘Slave To Nothing’ which also features Mattie Montgomery of For Today.
To get my point just listen to the song ‘Selfish Eyes’. This is more a heavy rocksong with only clean vocals. A nice break from all the heaviness. Than quickly followed by a more typical metalcore song ‘A Greater Sense Of Self’ but also this song is interspersed with clean vocals with a more hardrock sound, but only during the cleans. Followed by ‘Forever Unbroken’ which starts with a bit electronical sound and then quickly followed by heaviness. ‘Impostor’ gives us a great new one-liner: “A liar in heaven makes an angel in hell.” Also a melody that is hard to get out of your head. The last song ‘The Final Thoughts Of A Dying Man’ gives an impression of what FFAK is capable of. This song just has all elements in it what a good song needs: great guitarwork, original musical lines, breakdowns, catchy tunes and even something that is closely related to rapmusic (I hear some P.O.D. influences).
All in all I feel that this album lives up to the expectations and even more, and that this is a big step forwards for FFAK. I can recommend this album to everyone who is into metalcore without hesitation.
Rating: 9/10
Written by: René Woning
Track list:
1. Kill the Pain
2. Young & Undeserving
3. Slave to Nothing (feat. Mattie Montgomery)
4. Break Away
5. Hooked
6. Selfish Eyes
7. A Greater Sense of Self
8. Forever Unbroken
9. Impostor
10. Cleanse My Soul
11. The Final Thoughts of a Dying Man
Band members:
Ryan Kirby – Vocals
Bobby Lynge – Guitar
Jared Easterling – Drums
Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary – Bass/Vocals
Discography:
“Fit For A King” EP (2008)
“Awaken the Vesper” EP (2009)
“Descendants” (2011)
“Creation/Destruction” (2013) [Review]
“Descendants (Reissue)” (2013)
“Slave To Nothing” (2014)
Record label: Solid State Records, Oct. 2014
Weblinks: Facebook / Twitter / Itunes
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
Video below ‘Slave To Nothing’
Video below ‘A Greater Sense Of Self’