City of Fire (band)
| City of Fire | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres | Groove metal |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Stomp Music |
| Associated acts | Fear Factory, Econoline Crush, Ascension of the Watchers, Zimmers Hole, Strapping Young Lad |
| Website | Official website |
| Members |
Burton C. Bell Byron Stroud Ian White Sho Murray Bob Wagner |
City of Fire is a groove metal band from Canada, formed in 2008. Members include vocalist Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, bassist Byron Stroud from Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad and Zimmers Hole, and drummer Bob Wagner of Econoline Crush. City of Fire has so far released a self-titled album, issued in Australia in April 2010 and worldwide in August. The second pressing of the album contained additional "bonus tracks", one of which was a cover of the T-Rex song "Children of the Revolution". Several poorly recorded sample portions of their songs were uploaded on the band's MySpace page throughout 2009, often accompanied with video (consisting mostly of studio footage).
History
The band grew from the one-off reformation in 2008 of Caustic Thought, an early-90s group featuring Stroud, guitarist Ian White and drummer Bob Wagner (and, briefly, Devin Townsend, who replaced Jed Simon). As both Stroud's other main bands Fear Factory and Strapping Young Lad were disbanded or inactive at the time, thought was given to continuing with Caustic Thought and Sho Murray was added to the line-up as a second guitarist. White turned down the vocalist role so Stroud contacted Bell, who accepted. Shortly afterward, Fear Factory re-activated but City of Fire nevertheless completed a self-titled album. In April 2010, the City of Fire album was released in Australia by Stomp Music. It was due for release in other markets in August or September 2010.
In September 2010, City of Fire did its first international tour, supporting Soulfly on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, with Jed Simon (Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole) filling in for White on guitar. Two days after that tour ended, Fear Factory played a week of shows as the major support to Metallica.
A video for the single "Rising" was uploaded by Stomp Entertainment in May, 2010 but has since been taken down. Breaking from the music-video conventions to be expected of typically dark metal fare, "Rising" uses a bright color scheme with kaleidoscopic imagery.
In January, 2012, City of Fire released a new single through Metal Hammer magazine called "Bad Motivator". On Feb 25, 2012 "The PRP"[www.theprp.com] posted an update regarding Trial Through Fire and the state of the band in their Latest News section on 02.25.2012 at 1:35pm. It (partially) reads "In an ideal world, we would release the CITY OF FIRE CD late summer, building the band through the rest of 2012, and have the band on the road in 2013 when Burton’s commitment to Fear Factory touring is complete. City Of Fire offered update on new album “Trial Through Fire”:[1]
"Trial Through Fire" released on April 9, 2013
Discography
Studio albums
- City of Fire (2010)
- Trial Through Fire (2013)