GRAMMY Award nominated, female-fronted rock act Fireflight will release its fourth studio project, NOW, on March 6. The album is preceded by lead single, “Stay Close,” which topped the Billboard Christian Rock radio chart this week, while Fireflight gears up to support its new release with a “Stay Close” spring tour.
Asserting a new direction from the band’s previous record For Those Who Wait (2010), NOW calls listeners to move beyond their circumstances and take action. As guitarist Glenn Drennen explains, “We are not bound by our current condition because life is difficult or we have been hurt in the past. NOW points to God as our refuge who not only provides a place of safety and comfort, but who also challenges us to get outside our comfort zone...to join with something greater than ourselves.”
Produced by Jasen Rauch, NOW displays a new sonic focus for the band as well, built on lush electronic textures, futuristic moods and a more finely honed grasp of tender-to-titanic dynamics. Together the project’s hard-hitting message and sound make for an anthemic album. For example, the fist-pumping title track encourages listeners to quit making excuses, hiding in the shadows of previous pain, and to choose the path to freedom. In the same vein, melodic ballad “Rise Above” urges us to stop the cycle of victimization, overcome those things that have entangled us, and work toward a new tomorrow.
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3.5/5| Posted March 02, 2012
Fireflight's latest album, Now, is styled in the same vein of previous albums For Those Who Wait and Unbreakable. It has a radio-friendly rock sound, has only 10 songs, and sounds almost exactly the same. That's not to say the album is bad, it's actually pretty good, but I just feel like the band needs to take a chance and experiment with a different direction. Like I stated before, Now is a pretty good album. It has hard rock songs that get your blood pumping and soft ballad songs that make a statement. The album message of living in the now is a good one and resonates with a great many people.
Even though Now stylistically sounds like a generic rock album, it's a pretty good generic rock album. My only hope is that for Fireflight's next album they go in a different direction because the sound and style they have right now runs the risk of getting stale. But by all means take a listen to this album because there is a great deal of talent and effort put into this that it makes it worth the 35 minute length.