When your album features guest performances by members of Kiss It Goodbye, Minus the Bear, and Undertow, I'm going to pay attention. But impressive past credentials don't mean jack if you aren't—to quote Rob Halford—delivering the goods.
I'm happy to report that Yellfire do indeed rock. With a crushing sound that evokes the doomsday-like crush of Today Is the Day and the ominous riff orgies of Deadguy, the Seattle band packs punch.
Yellfire's forthcoming debut album, Dear Gods, was produced by Matt Bayles (Minus the Bear, Mastodon) and mastered by Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna, Birds in Row). "Lyrically, the album is based upon the concept of two separate entities/factions that ideologically grow so far apart that they begin to mirror one another," says Yellfire vocalist/guitarist Jerome Sauer.
"The idea that two different people want the same thing, but in different ways, and the more radical they become to make their point clear, they’re just the same fucking person yelling into a wall. There are a lot of themes of mirrored imagery, same but different."
Take a listen to a track from Dear Gods called "Escape," which features a guest performance from Demian Johnston, a Seattle music scene staple through his work in such bands as Great Falls, Nineironspitfire, and the aforementioned Kiss It Goodbye:
Yellfire guitarist Eric Christianson talks about the band members' small town roots: "While we've lived in Seattle for quite a while, all of us came up in small towns. We devoured zines and alt-weeklies growing up – Maximumrocknroll, HeartattaCk, Punk Planet, The Stranger.
"The bigger local bands – Botch, Akimbo, Murder City Devils – as well as the touring bands that came through, were giants to us. So, while we've moved to the city, and have been playing here for years and are peers with a lot of these people now, it still doesn't feel real."
Dear Gods will be out on November 15th via The Ghost Is Clear Records (pre-order).
Upcoming shows:
Oct. 26 - Seattle, WA @ Rat City Recon w/ High on Fire, Sandrider, Great Falls, and other bands
Dec. 13- Seattle, WA @ Black Lodge w/ Heiress, Tears of Joy, and Chaos Servant
Yellfire on social media: Instagram
Tagged: kiss it goodbye, nineironspitfire, playing enemy, yellfire
