Swedish power trio Fire! new EP «Requiēs» is destined to become a collectors’ item. It is strictly limited to 1,000 numbered one-sided vinyls (with a silkscreen print of Kim Hiorthøy on the B side), with no download option. True to sax titan Mats Gustafsson discaholics’ medicinal philosophy: one vinyl a day keeps the doctor away.

But «Requiēs» is much more than a desirable object. Fire! team up on this recording from February 2015 with like-minded comrades – guitarist Stephen O’Malley (of Sunn O))) fame, who recently collaborated with Gustafsson and Thurston Moore on «Born Without Word / At A Worn, Slowboy», 2021) and drummer David Sandström (from legendary Swedish hardcore punk band Refused, who collaborated before with Fire! on another limited-edition item, the signal «Det Flygande Barnet», Rune Grammofon, 2015).

«Requiēs» is an epic 21-minute spellbinding piece. It begins with ritualist church bells and dark, deep-toned bass saxophone moans of Gustafsson but O’Malley’s hypnotic feedback already lurks in the background. This interplay soon ebbs and flows into a massive grind that keeps expanding its powerful flow with the manic drumming of Andreas Werliin and Sandström, the fat electric bass of Johan Berthling, O’Malley’s psychedelic flights and Gustafsson’s raw and noisy electronics. Until this whirlwind of post-punk energy exhausts its journey.

Eyal Hareuveni

Mats Gustafsson (bass s, org, live elec), Johan Berthling (el.b), Andreas Werliin (dr), Stephen O’Malley (g), David Sandström (dr)