MAN ON FIRE

Man on Fire started in the 90's as a duo of two talented figures based in Atlanta, Georgia.Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Hodges and multi-instrumentalist Eric Sands decided to join forces and come up with an Art Rock style with little resemblances to other bands.Their first efforts were taped on their 1998 self-released self-titled debut.

While the sound of this early Man on Fire work has evident references to 90's US Progressive Rock, the combination of different sights and sounds goes beyond this narrow description and ends up being trully artistic and progressive, dropping into the mix elements from quirky Pop, Progressive Rock, Experimental Rock and even Synth-Pop Rock, at the end having their own personal and diverse music approach.There are strong bits from 90's KING CRIMSON, 80's/90's-period RUSH as well as classic Art Rock acts such as TALK TALK, JAPAN, while some of tracks have this typical American TILES/ENCHANT-like feeling and a few of them contain guitar plays in the vein of QUEEN'S BRIAN MAY.Twelve mostly short compositions, where the main components are the distorted vocals, the thin drum programming, the swirling fretless bass of Sands to go along with epic keyboard sounds, 80's-sounding synthesizers, sound effects and soft piano lines.The guitars are also present, mostly in rhythmic parts along with some limited solos, and the tracks are accesible, well-crafted, based more on atmosphere than technique.Really hard to describe the different-sounding tunes in Man on Fire's music, but imagine generally a nice blend of Art Pop Rock with more accesible Progressive Rock, but certainly more varied and artistic than to say IT BITES.

Nice and original music, that can be hardly appreciated by fans stuck in Classic Prog and its development over the years, but will have a certain appeal to more open-minded lovers of music.Recommended.