fIREsOUL - The Grand Tour

Swedish synthpop project fIREsOUL is a new face to the scene whose debut EP surfaced in January of 2021. Touting "darkness + loneliness + energy" as a bit of a tag line, fIREsOUL has moved on to release their second EP "The Grand Tour". Boasting no-nonsense lyrics, the project looks to create dance music within the realm of synthpop. While they are somewhat successful in their endeavors on their sophomore effort, there is much room for improvement. 

The first song on the album is the best of the bunch that appear on "The Grand Tour". The lyrics are sung in a bit of a spoken-word manner that fit nicely alongside the dance synths. High-energy synths with a very catchy chorus to say the very least. I found myself bobbing my head along to the beat, even if it isn't the most complex rhythm I've heard from synthpop. Nonetheless, I had fun. 



The second song, 'Wake Up', begins with familiar horror strings that are sampled in so many horror films. Perhaps taking a queue from their favorite horror films of all time, the track takes on a somber tone. The vocals are rather atrocious on the song as well; I felt as if the cleanly sung lyrics were off beat and none too great. fIREsOUL also include what I believe to be a violin in some sections of the song which really, really does not fit within the beat. This is one of the songs that was a big pass for me. 

Spoken word vocals continue on 'Inside Your Brain', but this time around they didn't quite work. I found them rather annoying. The beat is alright, if a bit simplistic, consisting of consistent and steady drum work, acapella, and the occasional electronic line. The final track on the EP, 'Do You Love Me', has vocals that again don't really work. The singer tries to be more aggressive and grittier but his voice doesn't quite give off that sensation. 

fIREsOUL's second EP, then, sounds more like a demo than it does a full EP. While some of the instrumentation sounds fine, most notably in 'Walk With Me', a professional mix or master could do future releases wonders. Some of the beats are rather simplistic and often come off as if a couple of presets were used without any modifications to its sound. The vocals on the EP are not great either; either the lead singer needs to take lessons, or they need a new vocalist entirely. Still, there is some hope for fIREsOUL. Obviously, they have a passion for music and they're able to string a song together well enough. Fine tuning and mastering their technique should help them improve in the future. However, with what I have on "The Grand Tour", I'm simply not impressed. 4.5 out of 10. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Nov 15 2021