Quebecois tech-death masters First Fragment have unveiled new single 'La Veuve & Le Martyr' from their upcoming new album, Gloire Éternelle, out 29th October 2021 via Unique Leader. Watch the visualiser to 'La Veuve & Le Martyr' here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBJ9CHZHf60
Pre-save Gloire Éternelle here: https://orcd.co/gloireeternelle
On the new single, guitarist Phil Tougas explains: “'La Veuve & Le Martyr' is one of our most varied songs and definitely not as neoclassical as our first single 'Pantheum'. The Shrapnel Records artist roster from the 80s and 90s remains the band's biggest source of inspiration.
"The riffs feature a lot of twists and turns and some counterpoint once in a while, but the swing-down grooves are the most interesting part. They're directly inspired by Greg Howe's early records as well as Joey Tafolla's 2nd solo album Infra-Blue. Just the first riff after the flamenco intro alone was basically me saying "Okay, what if I took the song 'Dynamo' by Obliveon, removed the open-string notes, added slap bass and it's performed by Greg Howe and Tafolla if they did extreme metal. The harmonised solo right before the trade-off uses slides, plentiful whammy bar action and big-d*ck 80s wide-vibrato. You can literally dance to that solo.
"In between it all, you also get one of the most aggressive vocals and most hyperactive drumming performances we've ever belted out. These 286 bpm blasts and 16th note double bass drum bursts may make you feel like someone is injecting crack straight to your heart when you hear them."
From day one First Fragment sought to create a brand of extreme technical death metal that combined counterpoint-based riffing, neoclassical lead guitar work, power metal-inspired passages as well as flamenco & swing sections, with desire to establish their own unique voice.
Their critically-acclaimed 2016 debut album, Dasein, released through Unique Leader, was the culmination of almost 10 years of hard work and dedication to their craft. First Fragment have since perfected their sound through expanding upon their extensive musical influences, further blurring the line between flamenco-inspired technical death metal and neoclassical power metal.
The result is Gloire Éternelle, an ambitious conceptual album that is unmistakably First Fragment, yet at the same time, impossible to categorise and pigeonhole. Baroque-influenced guitar counterpoint, flamenco sections, unique slap-bass-driven swing grooves (which the band trademarked by name as "swingdowns"), face-ripping lead guitar work and bombastic drumming, combine with a highly aggressive dual vocal approach and lyrics soaked in abstract poetry (sung in French), to create the ultimate shred fest. A shred fest with soul, memorability, identity, purpose and conviction.