The Firstborn – “Sounds Liberated as Mantra” [Song Review]

After listening to the album Lions Among Men by Portugal’s The Firstborn, I was absolutely blown away by the incredibly comprehensive song writing and soundscapes they achieve with such a large variety of sounds and instruments. However, the one song that sent chills down my spine was “Sounds Liberated as Mantra,” an entirely instrumental song with an absolutely epic sound. The image that it brought to mind was that of a gigantic tidal wave crashing over the land.

As the song begins with a clean build up and very soft chanting vocals in the background, you can visualize the water along the shore being sucked out as the wave gains momentum. The song then explodes into heavy chugs and almost haunting guitar noodling as the wave is now visible off in the distance. The drumming is mind blowing, a very progressive-metal style drumming with remarkably clean and seamless time signature changes. The drummer does so much more than simply keep a beat, rather he manages to pull of the difficult task of making the drums sound musical and contributes to the melody of the song.

The then song pulls back into the riff from the clean intro, but with a faster drum beat and more prevalent chanting vocals; the image in my mind was that of the water covering the land. The band then hits you with a huge wall of sound after which the song comes to its end as a siren sounds of feedback and reverb fades away; the land has completely disappeared and has been replaced by a vast ocean. Be sure to check out the full album on their Bandcamp or you can stream the song below.

Run Time: 7:19
Release: March 5, 2012

Check out the song: “Sounds Liberated as Mantra”