You probably wouldn’t know this upon first listen, but Fire On Dawson is an Indo/German hard rock band. They are based out of Karlsruhe, Germany and currently consist of Martin Sonntag on bass, Markus Stricker on guitars, Ankur Batra on vocals, and Max Siegmund on drums. 7 Billion And a Nameless Somebody is their second full-length album. They have also released Prognative and an EP entitled Seven Symptoms.
Fire On Dawson is being credited with reviving the alt. rock scene back in Germany. You won’t be surprised by this after listening to their latest release. They list their influences as bands Pearl Jam, A Perfect Circle, Godsmack, and Porcupine Tree to name a few. I was reminded of bands like Disturbed and Staind as well.
What I found interesting about Fire On Dawson is that they tend to meld alternative rock and progressive rock together quite nicely. Often times prog is a little too technical and artistic for rock fans, and vice versa. FOD does a good job of not making an album that has a some hooks and more of an accessible sound on tunes like the bluesy rocker “Steal the Show,” yet still lets out more of a prog sensibility on ones like “Synthetic Part I.”
What certainly helps this are the vocals and lyrics from Batra. He lists vocalists like Chris Cornell and Freddie Mercury as his biggest influences growing up, and while there aren’t obvious comparisons to either of them, his vocals are strong and his ability makes it easy for Fire On Dawson to change styles with little effort. Due to these changes the tracks may be a bit hit and miss based on what you like most out of what Fire On Dawson brings to the table, but the variety keeps Seven Billion And a Nameless Somebody from getting a bit repetitive. While Fire On Dawson is reviving the alt. rock sound in Germany, their music fits in just fine with some artists stateside.
Key Tracks: Steal the Show, Debris, Syria
Kevin Kozel - Sr. MuzikReviews.com Staff
October 11, 2012
