The Firstborn – ‘Lions Among Men’ [Album Review]

The Firstborn are one of those types of bands that a lot of people are not going to like very much. I know it’s a bit cliche to say, but The Firstborn’s sound is quite hard to describe. According to their bio the band have their roots in black metal, which makes sense as vocally this sounds like that sort of release. Musically however, it sounds nothing like black metal. Instead it’s more like a weird, almost progressive-sounding disc with long tracks that average between 6-9 minutes in length.

This ‘weird’ sound takes a bit of getting used to; the first couple of times I heard the album I didn’t really know what to make of it. However much like Tool’s last effort, 10,000 Days, where at first the songs sound like meandering “art” pieces, repeated listens bring out transfixing and beautiful songs that are both elegant and heavy at the same time. As a result, this is an extremely rewarding album for those of us with patience. Those of you however, who are looking for an album to rock out to will wonder why Lions Among Men got so many praises.

Track Listing:

01. Lions Among Men
02. Without As Written
03. Wantless
04. Vajra Eyes
05 Eight Flashing Lances
06. Nothing Attained, Nothing Spoken
07. Sounds Liberated As Mantra

Run Time: 54:47
Release Date” March 5, 2012

Check out the song: “Sounds Liberated as Mantra”