Crucial Change – The Fire Next Time

True Color Records

 

After three full-length albums, Seattle’s hard-hitters Crucial Change thought it was time to release their brand new album on their very own label – True Color Records. Based on the promotion and support a label can provide, I wonder if this was a good call or not. A label will always reminds the people that an album is here and to be honest, I kind of ‘forgot’ about this release until I got notified a copy was coming my way. A shame, because the result – that goes by the title of “The Fire Next Time” – is simply amazing!

 

No surprise though. These guys get better with every release they put out and they’ve teased us with a third of “The Fire Next Time” on late 2016’s “The Watcher” cassette – so you could have seen (hear rather) this coming! Because aside the fact that the band self-released this CD, there haven’t been much crucial changes when it comes down to their music and lyrics, both picking things up where they left off after 2014’s “So It Begins” LP and the “Mourning In America” EP. Both excellent releases to begin with, but “The Fire Next Time” surpasses them on every level.

 

Therefor it’s a shame that this album is only available on CD, while a release on vinyl is still very uncertain at this point. Unfortunate, because now I can only guess how this big, powerful production that Crucial Change created on “The Fire Next Time” will sound from a record – though I think we all know the answer on this one. Of course, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but strong, bold anthems like title-track “The Fire Next Time”, “The Final Call”, “The Watcher”, “Hand And Hand”, Against The Dawn” and “The Time” deserve the vinyl treatment, simply because a CD in a four-panel digipak won’t do them any justice.

 

Just my opinion of course, because whether it be on vinyl, CD or an eight-track, if you're a fan of Crucial Change's last work, than "The Fire Next Time" is a must-have, regardless of the format it's released on. Superb!