(I Don’t Wanna Fall) To The Fire – The most obvious continuation of the fire theme, and coming somewhat out of left field, this song opens with a hypnotic synth riff which carries on throughout most of the song and provide its main driving force. The atmosphere created on this song is astounding; just take for example the way the intro builds: first the synth riff; then the drums, with that massive 80’s sound, and with the bass drum being particularly prominent in this song; then another layer of synths and some percussion begin at the same time; then the guitar; and finally Jon starts singing over the top of all this. Another fantastic moment is the guitar solo: sounding particularly effective against the synthesized backdrop; it’s infact more of a duel between the synths and guitars; with Jon doing some awesome rock screams underneath it. Jon’s vocals are phenomenal; with the aforementioned screaming and forceful performance; and towards the end varying what looks on paper to be a repetitive chorus by changing emphasis and words to some lines. The lyrics are surprisingly mature; and understated yet effective. I’m not sure how to interpret the theme of the song: it could just be another state of the union – youth of America (a line that is mentioned at one point) – rallying call to arms type thing; but bits of it seem to suggest that it might be another war song, perhaps about the Vietnam War: lyrics such as “we would take no prisoners / cos there was nobody giving in / they came walking through my jungle / and met an angel about to sin” seems like it might be about the killing of innocents by soldiers in Vietnam, I don’t know. Anyways, overall this is a great dark, multilayered heavy synth rock song; sounding more alternative than the band perhaps ever would do again. I can see why a fan of more contemporary music would dislike it though: not only is it completely unlike anything else in the band’s catalogue; but the production is very very 80s; which could put some people off.

4/5