A Dozen Furies
A Concept From Fire

May 2006
Released: 2005, Sanctuary Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

Sanctuary Records – bastion of true metal, home of Iron Maiden, owned by legendary metal manager Rod Smallwood, label of new metalcore band, A Dozen Furies…what?!?!? Yep, it seems even the previously impenetrable Sanctuary Records is jumping on the metalcore bandwagon, snapping up this Texas five-piece to cash in on the latest craze. Ah well, who can blame ‘em, right? Right?

Even though this review appears before it this month (alphabetical listing an all), you could basically cut and paste my review of Scars of Tomorrow, which I heard first, into this space and call it a day. Basically, A Dozen Furies is standard metalcore, containing all the elements one would expect to hear in that genre. Nothing on A CONCEPT FROM FIRE is going to surprise fans, or make new listeners out of non-fans. That said, the band does manage to make an impact, mostly due to their well chosen melodic vocal lines. For example, “Awake and Lifeless” is memorable based solely the cleanly-sung chorus. By contrast, the title track has both infectious melodies and excellent riffs – it is clearly the best song on the album.

The rest is exactly what you’d expect from a metalcore disc, with slightly above average song-writing. However, there is nothing here that is going to make genre leaders like Shadows Fall and Unearth shake with fear. A CONCEPT FROM FIRE will make a solid addition to a fan’s collection, but probably won’t make an impact on the metal world at large.