Homer Simpson once equated selling pretzels to desperately trying to cram one more salty treat into America’s already bloated snack hole. Hard rock and munchies aren’t exactly apples to apples, but Feeding the Fire does a lot to stand out from a crowded field with DisInfoNation.
Rather than amping up and going for a full-on heavy metal sound, Chapel Hill’s Feeding the Fire achieves a more balanced approach.
“Ms. Brownstone” could almost pass for an Incubus song with vocalist Ken Cannon playing the part of the energetic Brandon Boyd, and “Fishtory” melds that idea with a bit of Pearl Jam and a crisp guitar solo to develop something that merges modern rock accessibility with a penchant for stylistic variation.
Music Review
Feeding the Fire
Disinfonation
Dive verdict: 3 of 5 stars
One of the album’s real strengths the way it avoids standard rock formulas. Sure, the band works mostly in the same minor keys, but the songs drift from the usual verse-verse-solo technique of more classically minded rock.
“Crash Landing” hits from all angles with power chord riffs that interchange with keyboards as Cannon contrasts the carnage with his smoothly charismatic tones.
Half of the songs run longer than four and a half minutes, but these are the best and most diverse tunes, cramming in an exciting range of sounds. The tempo picks up after the album’s halfway mark, culminating in “The Life, Love and Death of Sucio Sanchez”, a three-part jam session that takes you on a sprawling Mexican adventure.
DisInfoNation’s wide array of sounds is the cornerstone of the album. It’s a journey of a record, one in which the band takes its time getting where they’re going, allowing us to enjoy every twist in the road.
