This CD was a welcome suprise. As a journalist you can too often fall into the trap of judging a book by its cover so to speak and while the artwork and general packaging of this debut release from the Irish rockers is underwhelming, the music therein contains great promise and potential. In places, they sound the finished product already.
The opening salvo of title track and Burn To Exile both break from the starting line with propulsive and brilliantly conceived guitar work that brings to mind some of the best moments of mid-90's indie-rock, while the vocals fragility is as endearing as it is melodically astute. Both have strong melodies that perhaps are a little buried under some very lightweight production but if you can put this, and some slightly irritating and unexpected keyboard stabs aside, both songs are fine introductions to a worthy new act.
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Rio De Janeiro takes a slightly different path, and contains the strongest chorus on the record - one that brings to mind fellow Irish pop-rock luminaries such as Ash, Fighting With Wire, Kerbdog and even their greatly underrated successors power-trio Wilt. Memorable from listen one, this is the highlight on a consistent first release from the act who have relocated to Leeds to try and give their band the greatest chance of success.
With a little more work on song structure and a little more spent on getting the sound the band deserve, Rifle Fire Rifle could end up real contenders. Watch this space.
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