Album Review - Sons of Liberty - Brush-fires of The Mind

You may not have heard of Sons of Liberty but you will almost certainly have heard of the man behind their conception, Mr Jon Ryan Schaffer. That's right the Sons of Liberty are a one man band from the man behind US Power Metal behemoths Iced Earth.

While Iced Earth's last few albums have dealt with fantasy and history, from the scary movie inspired Horror Show, military history in The Glorious Burden and the grand Alien/Apocalypse themes of the Something Wicked albums, this one is firmly planted in the here and now of the real world...well kinda.

See, the group's first release Brush-Fires of The Mind is based on the sort of idea's that generally fall under the tag of "Nut-bag conspiracy theories". Basically it's centred on the idea of corrupt politicians/big businesses controlling the masses for their own ends.

Now while this sort of thing certainly happens out there in the big bad world, Schaffer will spend the entire running time of the album trying to convince you that the only justified response to everyday society is to treat your Government as the enemy and to oppose them at every turn. Depending on your world-view you are either going to lap these themes up or laugh/shudder at some of the ideas on offer.

But seeing how RevelationZ isn't really the place for heavy political discussion and I'm certainly no authoritative figure on US politics I'll concentrate (for the most part) on the music that Jon has put out on the Son's website.

That's right, the Brush-Fires of The Mind album can be downloaded entirely for free on their website. All you need to do is sign up to their news-letter and you can get the entire thing for nothing. I was concerned that by signing up for it I would be getting hit with all sorts of political nonsense in my inbox but so far (4 weeks and counting) I've received not a thing, thankfully

You can also pay for higher quality MP3s, but sod that when I can get the standard ones for free.

The albums opener Jeckyll Island begins with an atmospheric build up and Jon whispering the words " Secrecy, conspiracy, tyranny, slavery" before busting into one of the man's trademark palm muted, staccato riffs. It's a good indication of what to expect from the rest of the album, it's largely mid-paced, and never finds itself straying away from the established power/traditional metal sound of Jon's main band. A solid track but nothing spectacular.

If you have been able to handle the paranoid politics and annoying spoken passage at the end of the first track (not making an appearance for the last time sadly) then it's on the next song, the rousing Don't Tread On Me. It's anthemic, defiant chorus is one of the best on offer here. Jon's vocals hold up quite well and do actually sound quite Matt Barlow-esque at points.

Almost every single instrument on the album was handled by Shaffer and you can tell in the way it's never "showy" but ever direct and to the point. Admittedly the drumming is programmed and lacks some force on occasion but this doesn't really detract too much from the overall sound of the album.

There are occasional guest spots, including some of the guitar solo's and piano parts but in the main it's one man running the show. Which you could argue isn't much of a change from Iced Earth but hush now, don't be so cynical.

It wouldn't be a album featuring Schaffer without chance to break out the acoustic guitars for a ballad and Our Dying Republic affords him the chance. It slows things right down for a lament to our lost liberties. It's one of the best songs on the album and you can't argue with the chorus of "Our lives should define freedom, our lives to live in our on way". Its not a million miles away from Watching Over Me from Iced Earth's Something Wicked This Way Comes album, which in my book is no bad thing.

The rest of the album continues at a pretty standard pace (bar the 2^nd ballad The Cleansing Wind) with Schaffer never really letting loose with any brain-melting riffs. In fact you squint a bit at the verse part of Indentured Servitude you can almost hear Livin on A Prayer, which lets face it, is quite bizarre.

There are some great songs to be had in the latter half of the album. Tree of Liberty in particular is excellent and has a chorus I've found it hard to shift from my head. Closer We The People is another hymn to the power of the common man and works well as a powerful ending to the record.

There are a few parts on the album that will frustrate such as the tedious spoken word passages and samples which only serve to bog the album down immensely. Some of these are unfortunately so heavy handed it's unreal, such as the moment in False Flag where speeches by George W. Bush, Barack Obama and (I assume) good old Adolf Hitler are sampled back to back, I'm guessing subtlety wasn't riding high in Jon's mind when he put that bit together.

If you can ignore or agree with the lyrics then you will have an enjoyable experience on your hands with Brush-fires of The Mind. To be honest its actually a more cohesive product than Iced Earth's last meandering effort The Crucible of Man. I would have preferred a faster number or two, which would have broken the album up and given it a little more variety. But really when you consider that it's completely free of charge, then you really have nothing much to loose.

Written by Stuart
Friday, February 26, 2010
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Ratings

Stuart: 6/10

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