Album Review: Her Name Was Fire – Road Antics (Raging Planet)

Road Antics is the debut album from Portuguese stoner rock two-piece, Her Name Was Fire & was released on April 7th 2017 via Raging Planet.

The stoner rock sound that Her Name Was Fire employs on their debut album, Road Antics is one that will leave the listener feeling a little flat. It’s just not a very exciting piece of music & the flashes of fiery energy just don’t do enough to redeem it.

That’s not take anything away from the musicianship found throughout though. The tight, groove rock & sleazy vocals of Take My Soul being a particular high point.

Fans of Queens of the Stone Age & Kyuss will definitely get a kick of Road Antics. The low-end guitar riffs are played at a pace that is all about letting the groove drip from the notes. Gone in a Haze, Wrong & Bring the Ransom are all songs that echo throughout the skull thanks to the rhythmic beat of the drums.

The problems with Road Antics lie in the fact that by the halfway point it’s all starting to get a bit boring. Nightcrawler has a nice beat but little else to get excited by, Way to Control lays on the sleaze in buckets but fails to capture much else & while Summer Strummer’s burst of energy is welcome its hard to lift the album out of the mire it’s gotten stuck in.

At this stage it would be easy to just write off Road Antics completely but thankfully the ballady To The Sunset keeps you listening. It’s guitar strumming giving it a dusty roads, baking hot sun feel. It’s slow & methodical but is surprisingly uplifting.

The album comes to a close with So Long Starman, a forgettable finish aside from sultry bass & heavy drum beats. They really shine in the choruses but little else does.

It’s not that Road Antics is a bad album, it’s actually pretty decent it’s just that you’ll take very little away from it. Far too many ‘alright’ songs mean it’s not going to set the stoner rock world on fire.

Her Name Was Fire – Road Antics Full Track Listing:

1. Little Pain
2. Take My Soul
3. Gone in a Haze
4. Wrong
5. Bring the Ransom
6. Nightcrawler
7. Way to Control
8. Summer Strummer
9. To the Sunset
10. So Long Starman

You can pick up Road Antics via major streaming platforms now as well as through Bandcamp. Check Her Name Was Fire out on Facebook, on Soundcloud & on YouTube.