FIRES IN THE DISTANCE - Circadian Promise

Having just marked ten years of activity, Fires In The Distance have released “Circadian Promises”, their best album, which completes the codification of a sound and imagery among the most impactful in today's metal scene. The Connecticut band certainly belongs to the crowded death-doom pack, but thanks to obsessive sound craftsmanship and marked gothic influences, it also sets itself apart, ending up exerting a strong appeal on other kinds of listeners too.

From the very opening entrusted to “Of Radiance And Levitation”, the perpetual interplay between a desperate growl register and another, clear and epic one (courtesy of Craig Breitsprecher) once again recalls the narrative dynamism of gothic-metal giants My Dying Bride, just as the artwork is once again bleak and still inspired by the dark brushstrokes of late English Romanticism, as well as by John Singer Sargent.
It is, of course, the sound that remains the brutal quintet's main strength. First and foremost there's the constant presence of piano, hidden behind the doom earthquake of the guitars and the thunderous double-pedal rolls of Jordan Rippe, yet always prominent enough to lend each track a very peculiar neoclassical flavour. Then there are strings and electronics, never overused, instead dosed with care and left to dominate the stage in the poignant atmospheric interludes of “Lightless Day Of A Songless Bird” and “Once The Silence Takes Your Place”. With its savage riffs and an ever-present cinematic piano, the latter is probably “the scene” — the most moving moment of the entire record.

With its unstoppable whirlwind of swirling guitars, the closing “Agonal Dreaming” is instead the epic peak of an album that seems steeped in a heroic spirit and a narrative sweep from another era. With a performance like this, with this ability to build personal, striking atmospheres, it would now be a grave injustice to dismiss Fires In The Distance as mere followers of the Nordic Insomnium and Dark Tranquillity. Credit must instead be given to them: although drawing on various pre-existing elements, theirs is a dark, personal and powerful metal.

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28/06/2026