Friday Full-Length: Quest for Fire, Quest for Fire
I distinctly remember when Toronto’s Quest for Fire released their self-titled debut in 2009, in no small part because I utterly whiffed on it. Brutally. The label behind the release, New York’s much-respected Tee Pee Records, had just switched their promo methodology to sending CDs in a generic digipak for review, and I was bummed about that, because artwork, etc. And so, when it came time to dig into the self-produced six-track/43-minute outing from the heavy psychedelic rockers — the album’s lineup: Chad Ross (ex-The Deadly Snakes, also Nordic Nomadic, Comet Control and solo work as C.Ross) on guitar, vocals and Korg, Andrew Moszynski (Comet Control) on guitar, Josh Bauman (Nordic Nomadic) on bass, Mike Maxymuik (ex-Cursed, ex-Black Mountain) on drums, plus here Will Kidman on keys and Matt Carlson (who also engineered) on harmonica — I let it go. I don’t have another way to say it. Sometimes the thought of listening, liking, buying one more good record is exhausting. Right or wrong, I didn’t have room in my heart for Quest for Fire‘s Quest for Fire.
Wrong, decidedly.
As a matter of self-defense from myself, it wasn’t all that long before I got on board. Quest for Fire‘s second record, 2010’s Lights From Paradise (review here), was an admirably languorous work of lush, resonant, and melodic psych. Not without its more active moments, but defined by the serenity overarching its procession, Ross‘ mellow vocals giving even the brashest stretches a peaceful vibe. In an interview here in 2021, Ross talked about the rougher edges and more nebulous definition (paraphrasing) of Quest for Fire‘s early days, the jams from which the first album was born, and indeed the self-titled carries a looser construction than the record that followed in such short order.
This becomes a boon to the songs quickly as four-minute, comparatively taut careening opener “Bison Eyes” prefaces the new space rock by hailing the old, showing punker roots in the riff, but immediately rich in tone in a way that’s atmospheric even with the tempo. Lead guitar notes float over the thrust, and the backbeat holds behind the swirl of the last verse and chorus, taking some influence from heavy rock but using it toward decidedly more molten ends, and when it’s done, “Strange Waves” complicates the plot with hints of a Western ramble next to languid, addled chug with acoustic guitar (and Carlson‘s echoing harmonica) laced through, complementing the bottom-end heft with a sense of lightness as would become an essential facet of Quest for Fire‘s work during their time, and building to a roll across its seven and a half minutes that’s glorious in its payoff, pointedly slower than “Bison Eyes” and a classic example of a band leading off with a rocker and then pulling the floor out from under their listener. One can’t hear some Dead Meadow-style fuzzgaze in “Hawk That Hunts the Walking” (8:44) at the end of side A manifest in the wah soloing and verses, but the chorus has a layered, complex melody of its own, and there’s more depth to it than just that as they cycle through quieter and louder parts, keeping the nod of “Strange Waves” from the outset and holding forth a kind of glacial momentum as they solo to the finish from which side B’s “I’ve Been Trying to Leave” crashes in. Well hello.
If you’ve been hanging in this far, congratulations. Quest for Fire‘s spacious mix has plenty of room for the listener the burrow themselves into, but lacks nothing for impact, whether it’s Maxymuik‘s snare or Bauman‘s bass underscoring “Strange Waves,” and the second half of the album continues with a mind toward expansion of sound. At 6:16, “I’ve Been Trying to Leave” realigns more toward the straightforward, like a funhouse mirror of how “Bison Eyes” started off, manipulated in its purposes to its own ends as it imagines a psychedelic post-hardcore the likes of which a band might’ve made an entire career out of. Swirl and churn and melody and charge are all accounted for, and as with side A, the two longer cuts that follow — “You Are Always Loved” (7:23) and the closer “Next to the Fire” (9:08) — draw from the well of energy established just prior.
Quest for Fire didn’t invent this methodology, but they employ it well on their first LP, and it gives “You Are Always Loved” the freedom to be as subdued as it wants without entirely losing the balance of motion in the material. There are subtler ebbs and peaks in the first half of the track, a fuzzy solo and acoustic/voice finish, and the abiding kindness of the lyrical reassurance feels like part of the ambient breadth; a sweet herald of things to come, both in Quest for Fire and in Ross and Moszynski‘s subsequent outfit, Comet Control, and in the former’s songwriting more generally. Such moments of a band ‘figuring it out’ aren’t always so palpable, but they’re making a home in the nebulous range of “You Are Always Loved,” and the space left open as the title-line is delivered underscores the point.
That leaves “Next to the Fire” as both last and longest of Quest for Fire‘s inclusions, and it buzzes to life around an accordingly large roll. The wah’s on, the cymbals crashing, the movement forward and at a more active tempo as they shift into the verse around twists of lead and echoing vocal lines. “Next to the Fire” is more brash, but like “Hawk That Hunts the Walking,” is leant a more individual impression by Ross‘ breathy delivery, which in the second half becomes the calm around which the storm is rotating. They end with noise and a wisp of synth, which is fair enough, and leave the listener with an in-the-room feel as regards dynamic, their chemistry established unflinchingly across a swath of well united moods and immersive sounds.
I won’t say I’ve been avoiding Quest for Fire‘s Quest for Fire for the last 15 years, because I’ve listened to it plenty in that span if less than its follow-up, but digging into the songs again, I retain my sheepishness at having skipped out initially, much to my own loss. The band would be done in 2013 and Comet Control picked up from there with their 2014 self-titled debut (review here), which brought new direction to what Quest for Fire had built. In addition to serving as a refresher at how underrated this band was, I guess the hindsight is a reminder that music, art and so much else in life doesn’t have an expiration date, no matter what capital-driven internet-era FOMO would tell you otherwise. Maybe you’ll hear it now, maybe you heard it then, maybe you’ll hear Quest for Fire‘s self-titled in another 15 years. There’s comfort knowing it’ll still be there, whenever you need it.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
This week was Xmas. We hosted Xmas Eve for my family on Tuesday, a casual thing. Thanksgiving was a big sit-down dinner, this was mellower. My sister, her husband and one of their sons were all sick, so my mother and one of my nephews came, along with my sister’s in-laws (who also live in the neighborhood) and a couple of local cousins. It was pleasant and relatively low-key. The plan had been to go to my mother/sister’s house for Xmas Day, but that was canceled; still sick. Yesterday I ended up taking my nephew (who is 16 and just getting into metal; drop your recommendations in the comments) to the video game store, and that was fun, and today The Patient Mrs.’ mother, sister, and her two kids are coming down today to stay over to tomorrow and do a delayed celebration either tonight or tomorrow I don’t really know. All the while, The Pecan is off from school and spending much time on the iPad in the mornings, though yesterday we also spent like two hours at an indoor play-place in Fairfield called FunTime Junction — we were like the only ones there for an hour; it was great — where we’ve been a bunch of times, so trying to keep a balance in the activity level as much as possible in the cold. It snowed on Monday and Tuesday.
So that was the holiday. Being spectacularly broke, it was not a huge splash of presents. I asked The Patient Mrs. what she wanted, she wanted socks. I bought her the socks she wanted. I also got socks, a case of Topo Chico (which is kind of a gag gift, but also pretty good if you like spending $2.50 for a bottle of seltzer), and the Final Fantasy VII/VIII remaster for Switch. Not the VII remake for PS5 or whatever, the original games, which I bought somewhat for posterity because I figured I’d want to play VIII again eventually, ever, at some point, and the likelihood of finding the four-disc PS1 version I bought in 1999 alongside a new tv specifically purchased to play that game with money I earned stocking shelves at KB Toys Store #1051 in on Rt.10 & 202 in Morris Plains, NJ — roughly a minute from where I now live — is probably on par with my likelihood of finding that tv. I started a new game, got killed by the big dinosaur early on, and nostalgia ensued. I’ll call it a win.
It was a relatively quiet week around here, but I’m glad to have gotten the reviews up that I did for The Whims of the Great Magnet and West, Space and Love — two 2024 releases I definitely wanted to cover before crossing the admittedly arbitrary line of the New Year. Happy New Year, by the way. I’m taking off Jan. 1 and will try to put together the poll results. If I can do it in one day, I’ll post accordingly, but don’t count on it. Not that you’re holding your breath, but I kind of am. The difference between first and second place is four votes. That’s tighter than it’s been in years. Every vote counts.
Kind of a rough morning so far as The Pecan has decided she no longer wants her meds in a mashed banana and so a pivot is required to whatever the next fucking thing that will spark minimal cooperation might be. A bribe? Some complicated performance aspect? Who knows, but rest assured, it’s fucking always something and generally an argument. It’s nine in the morning and I’ve already been punched today, which doesn’t happen every day anymore but still sucks for sure and has a tendency to sour one’s mood. I’ll eat a gummy and chill out, shower and have breakfast. Just feels shitty to feel like I need to redirect my own morning before it’s really even started, no less with company coming and all that. I don’t know. Small bumps in the big picture, but they add up.
That’s a bummer note to leave on, so let’s look at next week. Monday is a Darsombra video premiere if I get the video in time. Thursday I have a full premiere for the second Pontiac record. I need this weekend to write a bio for the new 16 album, which is rad, and there’s still news to catch up on forever, so that.
Whatever you’re up to, have a great and save weekend. Don’t forget to hydrate, especially if you’re hitting it to ring in 2025, and watch your head. I’m gonna go bathe for the first time since, I think, Tuesday, and get my head right. Thanks again for reading.
FRM.
The Obelisk Collective on Facebook
Tags: Canada, Ontario, Quest for Fire, Quest for Fire Self-Titled, self-titled, Tee Pee Records, Toronto
Happy holidays and thank you for another year of ‘this thing of ours!’
And how METAL are we talking for the nephew? Like, Soilent Green, or COC? Maybe the latest Duel? You can say it’s basically Metallica’s fifth album in a parallel universe where they kept kickin ass.
Melodeath would be a good gateway for your nephew to heavier stuff. Insomnium are my personal favourites but you can’t go wrong with Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates etc.
In a more sludgy (Mastodon style) vein both Anciients and Dvne put out great records this year.
Oh man, I have a niece who ‘likes metal’, that’s always a nightmare for presents. This year I went for Deftones (White Pony), Gojira and Employed To Serve.
Quest For Fire is one of my always loved albums, and good for playing in mixed company as well :-D
(I’m hosting neighbours for New Year and have been instructed not to play any sludge or boring slow stuff like Earth…)
How did I not know this album (or band)? Been hooked since this post – thanks JJ.