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When it comes to modern hybrids of metal and hardcore music, the results are often polarized. Groups tend to play hardcore with hints of metallic heaviness or metal with a touch of hardcore's straightforward trademarks (namely breakdowns). Above This Fire, on the other hand, doesn't fit in with either extreme. They fuse metal and hardcore, yes, but the proportions are relatively balanced, giving the band a somewhat all-over-the-place feel. Luckily enthusiasm ties In Perspective together, and keeps an otherwise bland and tired idea fresh and invigorating.
Sounding something like a cross between With Honor and Unearth, Above This Fire has grown out of being a faceless, melodic metalcore band and jumped headfirst into the realm of spirited, upbeat hardcore. While the band has all but shed their crunchy, metallic tendencies, In Perspective is much more lively, positive and heartfelt than the output of bands who continue to rip off Swedish metal. For each shot of blastbeats, harmonized guitar riffs and grating screams, there are hardcore-oriented flourishes of blazing tempos, shouted and gang vocals, and brisk, melodic chord progressions.
Above This Fire rears a variety of faces on In Perspective, but each one of the different styles is included with good reason and taste. Although the band would fare well with a polarized sound -- strictly hardcore or melodic metal -- the combination of the two styles works surprisingly well and, in Above This Fire's case, actually has a distinct flair.
With clean, thick production and energy oozing from the drumming, guitar riffs and moving vocal performance, In Perspective doesn't have any major faults. The band's faster, lively songs, especially "Reaction," "Designing A Requiem" and "City Of Locust," are the true hits of the album. But the heavier songs are still engrossing in their own right.
I can see Above This Fire breaking out on a national level with In Perspective as it takes after the catchy, melodic qualities of With Honor and Comeback Kid, and bruises with the force of Unearth and As I Lay Dying. The band's parts aren't very unique, which is the main problem here, but the sum of those borrowed influences is. Enough band names have been thrown around in this review for you to draw your own conclusions, but In Perspective is recommended for even jaded metal and hardcore listeners.
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