Music Review: Firstborn

What is your “go-to” band? Thinking about living in rural Japan during the winter months, with washi thin walls and windows, how do you find ways to get a sense of what is happening?  For me, it was through music.

It seems that everyone’s favorite band has the press kit – the promo photos, demo tape, list of shows, and fans.  Digging beneath this band hailing from Sweden, you will find a melodic group of musicians using the medium of music in complex ways.  Firstborn is a band that blends sounds of post-alternative rock and the metal scene in their own, new way.  Genres aside, Firstborn’s debut album, Define our Generation, includes songs that stand for more than rock and/or roll, the image, people, and other stereotypes that come with it.  The newly formed band creates songs that convey greater messages about breaking through your comfort zones and doing what you want in life despite adversity.

If you are like me, and enjoyed screaming lyrics mixed with deeper meanings and thought-out introductions like those executed in the early 2000s, then you will also enjoy the sound of Firstborn.

From the Editor

I will make no pretenses at knowing ANYTHING about Swedish alternative rock, so thanks to Mary for stepping in! (We were contacted by the band asking if we wanted to review the album). However, I’d thought I’d give it a listen and my 2 cents too.

Firstborn reminds me of my youth. I feel old saying it, but the fact remains that the music started and I was transported back to good times going to gigs with school friends. I guess that means the band’s sound isn’t completely new, but I definitely wouldn’t turn off the radio if it came on. The instrumental work is fantastic and the melodic vocals regularly beautiful.

Living in Japan, I’ve been dreadful at keeping up with music from closer to the (well, my) motherland, so it’s been refreshing to hear something at once nostalgic and new. Give them a listen!