Victim Of Fire – The Old Lie Album Review
Overall Score 8/10!
It can be incredibly difficult, at times, for metalheads to get excited about a new band. Old heads will never get onboard with the modern deathcore that’s dominated the landscape in recent years, or any trend that’s come and gone since the turn of the century. Gen Z and Gen Alpha simply don’t care at all about the incredibly complicated and nuanced (and ultimately meaningless) delineation of metal subgenres that have been built for decades before. And somewhere in the middle, traumatized Millennials are clinging to the music of their youth and looping it on repeat. All of this makes a young and hungry band like Victim of Fire incredibly interesting to me – because it seems like they went out of their way to write their brand new record, The Old Lie, specifically for me, the traumatized Millennial who grew up in an Iron Maiden household, with an unhealthy obsession with Gothenburg Melodeath, and living through the American Metalcore movement of the early 2000s. Though they brand themselves as a blackened-crust band, I know a good melodeath riff when I hear it – and when they start throwing around those crusty d-beats – I’m sold.
The title track and album opener, “The Old Lie,” immediately transports you back to the height of Dark Tranquility’s discography, with proper melodic riffing while avoiding all of the “-core” cliches of the early 2000’s. The bridge drops into half-time with a groove-esque riff that’ll open up a floor before the melodeath kicks right back in to close us out. “Apocalyptic Inclination” flirts with blackened elements, but never loses the melodic hooks and sensibilities that make this record so great. The line between black metal and crust has always been thin, but drummer Marc threads that line so delicately on this song. Throw in a super melodic bridge, and the only thing I can fault this song for is ending too early.
By this point, I’m realizing these songs are no-frills – all of the fat has been trimmed, and “Wayward Light” is no exception. There are no drawn out or fluffed up intros that overstay their welcome. The deeper into this album you dive, the more crust comes out. This isn’t slick and overproduced, it sounds like guitarists Austin and Emily are just on the same page, and Dustin’s grinding bass tone truly glues the guitars back to the drums when the harmonies hit. Austin’s vocals are snarling, but not shrill like old school black metal, yet still reminiscent of the best melodeath out of Scandinavia in the 90’s and 2000’s. Sonic perfection has been abandoned in favor of creating something interesting and unique, both from a songwriting and production perspective.
“Soldier’s Dream” in particular is interesting – right out of the gate, it’s by far the fastest song on the record, and contains the most distinct movements. From the intensity of the drumming to the liberal use of early 2000s style octaves on guitar, to a fade into a slow, clean outro paired with big NWOBHM harmonies, complete with raw string noise – there’s something odd and special here, like two songs merged into one, that shouldn’t really work but does. Immediately following is “Discordance,” which actually feels like it should be the second half of “Soldier’s Dream” in many ways – it wouldn’t surprise me to hear these songs back-to-back live, joined by uncontrolled feedback as the drum intro of “Discordance” hits. Tracks like “Front Towards Enemy” demonstrate the more blackened side of the band, completely unrelenting until dropping you straight into classic Maiden in the bridge, and a long-awaited guitar solo, which the record has been lacking up until now.
While “Disharmonist,” which is not technically the last song here, it is the longest song on the record, and serves as the album closer for all intents and purposes. Delving into post-metal territory and guitarwork reminiscent of Svalbard’s masterpiece The Weight of the Mask, this song demonstrates the depth this band has and the directions they can really move in without straying too far from their core sound. With one of the best riffs we’ve been served so far, I could listen to an entire record built around this template. Expertly crafted and arranged, the band calls this track their “magnum opus” and it’s hard to disagree. Seven minutes has never felt so short.
And the final cherry on top is an absolutely gnarly cover of Iron Maiden’s “Ace’s High.” If the Maiden influence wasn’t already obvious, the tribute is stellar. There’s a lot of covers of this song – some better than others, and as a diehard who seeks them out, I’ve listened to dozens and dozens of attempts at this song over the years. This is one of the best I’ve heard, and demonstrates that the band can really rip on those solos – and that the shortage of guitar solos on the rest of the record was an intentional, creative choice.
This record is a little bit rough around the edges (in a good way) – the takes here sound raw and real, and not polished to infinity. The songwriting is incredibly strong, the blend of furious blackened crust and NWOBHM-style harmonized riffs is truly unique in 2025 – yet somehow they’d fit in on a bill playing with Gothenburg bands to innovative groups like the aforementioned Svalbard, or even modern greats like Heaven Shall Burn or The Black Dahlia Murder. While some of the arrangements are a bit abrupt, and the WWI lyrical themes don’t quite resonate with me, the potential for this band to gain steam and crossover support from the crankiest old metalhead to the youngest revialcore fan is absolutely huge.
Overall: 8/10 – strap in, cause it’s a hell of a ride
Review by: Tom
