FIRE IN THE HEAD - Screams for the Mute
Review from Absolute Zero Media.

This artist is becoming very prolific in a very short period of time. Looks like they have current releases out right now on 5 separate labels. This is a very strong mix of harsh noise and drone to make an effective and mind crushing release. Fire In The Head is surely becoming one of my favorite noise artists as of late and with each release grows in talent and ideas. If you like the more experimental side of Grunt, NTT and Bastard Noise you need to not pass on this artist's releases as they are all of such high quality. Just wish they wern't so limited. Most are in the 100-200 copy range. I've just received a split with Ricahrd Ramirez from Fire In The Head. Let's hope this holds as tasty a release as this. Get the clue fuck heads, buy this release and support the next wave of talented noise mongers.

From Heathen Harvest:

Pure aural abuse, a symphony of harsh screeching grinding steel, and mighty heavy on the distortion, which wouldn’t be complete without just a few drones which are more of a murmur, rhythm even rears a grisly head from time to time, a truly beautiful assault to the senses which will leave you wanting more.

I’ll try and give you a little breakdown of what F/I/T/H has in store for you.

The disc starts off with the track “silent few” a melodic piece one could even say, that builds and builds with layered waves of static and an underlying current of what sounds like or reminds me at least of singing in the subway, but the problem lays in the fact that the person doing the singing has a foot on the third rail, and there is a train coming.

Moving on to “trepanation” second piece and an aptly titled track, do I detect a possessed organ playing itself, perhaps but either way please tell these voices in my head to stop.

Screams for the mute, the title track is a battle of chainsaws and hand grenades, a detection of vocals even, good luck deciphering them though ,definitely not a sing along with the bouncing ball type of thing, more of a nuclear blast duck and cover thine ass.

The track “playing god” I’d have to say is the mellowest of all of them, somewhat sparse and free flowing with some chanting in the background carrying the piece with what one might call the melody, while the piece is called playing god I definitely didn’t come away from this track thinking in any way that this was a god of creation, this is pure destruction, no happy ending.

This release is a hymn to the drumfire, it is a finely tuned opus of power electronics and artistry the effect is hypnotic at times and at others unnerving, panic and angst do come to mind as well.

Based in the United States Fire in the head or F/I/T/H is the work of
Michael Page who over the years has put out numerous quality limited cd’s and cdr’s and of course this being one of them, limited to 200, has also performed alongside Wertham, C.O.Caspar and the legendary Whitehouse at the Consumer Electronics festival 7 this past Oct (which I sorely missed) so he is surely doing something right.

I am looking forward to hearing more from Fire in the Head in the year to come, especially as his sound is evolving, towards what aim is anyone’s guess but I suspect there are a few surprises in store for us, and for that I shall happily await .

Side note: the cd was actually recorded in Provincetown and those of you who are familiar with the works of F/I/T/H know for sure that this music is so far removed from anything you will hear there….this cd isn’t exactly a hands in the air floorfiller.

From Gothtronic:

To get some more information on an artist, it's always good to look at their website. And when it comes to Fire in the Head, we see an indication for what we are about to hear when we look at the links-section: Guilty Connector, Slogun, Sickness, Control, Skullflower/Ramleh, Grey Wolves/Open Wound & Survival Unit.

Fire in the Head can be labelled harsh noise, a type of music definitly
not for the weak. For as far as I know, most artists in the genre are from America and Asia, but in Europe it's also being produced more and more. The genre is a little bit less 'constructed' as power electronics, but what it lacks in structure is made up for in agression.

Provided you can handle the sounds, you can play this album on repeat. Every time you notice new layers and new depth within the tracks and after a few rounds, the beat really reveals itself. 'Watch And Burn' is a great droney track, while 'Playing God' and 'Floodgate' are way more opressive in nature ('Floodgate' actually hurts a bit).

The masterpiece on this album is the final track 'Through Jaded Eyes'. It's a beautifully created noisescape with a melancholic feel.

The CD isn't really accessible for a larger audience, but it is definitly
worth buying for noise-addicts and maybe also people who want to try out something without beats, but with a lot of power.

From Radiotarab Records:

Based in the United States Fire in the head or F/I/T/H is the work of
Michael Page. Pure aural abuse, a symphony of harsh screeching grinding steel, and mighty heavy on the distortion, which wouldn’t be complete without just a few drones which are more of a murmur, rhythm even rears a grisly head from time to time, a truly beautiful assault to the senses which will leave you wanting more. This release is a hymn to the drumfire, it is a finely tuned opus of power
electronics and artistry the effect is hypnotic at times and at others
unnerving, panic and angst do come to mind as well.