Album review: CLEANBREAK – We Are The Fire

Frontiers [Release date : 11.10.24]

We Are The Fire is the second album from Cleanbreak, Mike (Riot/Riot V) Flyntz and Frontiers’ wunderkind, James Durbin.

While Mark Reale and Rhett Forester were getting all the headlines with Riot and Riot V, Flyntz was the band’s rock solid, back to the wall rhythm guitarist. An anchor for the band’s heavy / power metal sound.

On Cleanbreak’s debut, Coming Home (2022), Stryper’s rhythm section was on board, Perry Richardson and Robert Sweet. This time it’s Alessandro Del Vecchio (now on the other side of a serious health problem) on bass and keys, and Nicholas Pappapico, from Robin McAuley’s band, on the drums.

It’s a thin line, admittedly, but once you get past the opening track, Cleanbreak’s second album is more hard rock than heavy metal. ‘Unbreakable’ is the perfect example. Flyntz rations his riffing to minimalist strokes, leaving most of the heavy lifting to Durbin’s double tracked vocals.

That opener – ‘A Warrior’s Anthem’ – enjoys powerful, honest, hand on heart emoting from Durbin. The song, lyrically, is as poetic as hard rock or heavy metal ever gets. Flyntz’s motorised riffs do the driving.

The albums dips slightly in the middle section. Despite its galloping guitars and steely, pounding rhythms, ‘Deal With Yourself’ is lyrically light. The words of love lost, and the accusations that follow, seem content to recycle yesterday’s emotions.

That said, the track is bookended by two of the album’s stronger songs. Del Vecchio’s keys, doubling as a string section, dramatise ‘Breathless’ as the song builds nicely to a cool, minor key chorus.

Another fine solo from Flyntz. Never too flamboyant, never too restrained, always calibrated just right for each specific song.

On ‘Love Again’ this time, Del Vecchio’s keyboard artistry adds valuable light and shade as a surging melody, carefully guided by Durbin’s sky scraping vocal, builds to a climactic chorus. This song is as close at it gets to the mainstream, and Durbin’s clearly got more to offer. A pointer to the future perhaps.

Cool album. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)