'Fire in Our Eyes' by Rain in Death Valley - Single review

Tom Atherton
Feb 28, 2020
4 min read

When people ask me, as they often do what my favourite genre of music to listen to is; it is normally a toss-up between indie rock and punk rock. I have always enjoyed punk rock bands from The Ramones all the way up to Green Day. Typically short and fast-paced with hard melodies, and lyrics that usually oppose the establishment/political system punk rock has always been a top genre. Over the last decade, I think punk rock has taken a massive decline with the rise of grime music and the dominance of pop music. But there is still hope! I recently discovered a British punk rock band from Bradford that is just about to kick off their music careers; they are ‘Rain in Death Valley’. I thought the bands name was so cool, one of the best band names I've heard doing this blog so far. With a new and also their first single dropping on Saturday 29th February I had to take some time to listen properly and give my review.

Rain in Death Valley is a three-piece punk rock band hailing from Bradford, members include Sami Javed (Lead vocalist/guitar), Luke Thomas (Drums) and Xander Kennard (Bass/backing vocals). These three musicians all met at high school but have since left and gone on to further study where they all study fairly challenging subjects music performance, art and politics/religion. The band have been working on their new single since the summer of 2019 and aim for it to become popular amongst UK punk fans. The band are currently planning gigs across the UK with the release of their new single and hope to sell out some local venues; it’s fair to say that these boys have got a vision and they’re going for it. Below is a segment of their press release document they forwarded me explaining what the song is about.

‘Fire in Our Eyes’ is a song written about how the band feels about the way people grow up and aren’t taught to think for themselves. The problem, in their opinion, is that so many people are only following what others do and don’t make their own decisions when, if they really think before they say or do things, they would begin to make better decisions and become better people. The song gives a positive message saying that, if we learn to think for ourselves in this way, we can start to turn what looks like a lost cause into a better world. If the people come together and begin to realise what’s truly right and wrong with society, we can begin to fix what has been done by powerful people who do things only for their personal gain.

Very interesting stuff; I began to listen to their song after reading the above text and I was really impressed by what this band had created. The song starts with 20 seconds of fast-paced music eventually allowing the lyrics to come in. The first words ‘There is fire in my eyes’, a very memorable line and a line with a ton of meaning behind it. ‘Fire in my eye’ can mean one of two things: you have a cause which you are very passionate about and willing to fight for or you are very angry, as this is a punk rock song both meanings can be used. Throughout the song, the lyrics are very punk rock in the way that they are all very anti-establishment, masses against classes etc. Lyrics such as ‘Some people bow to the sky’ and ‘Burning through years of distorted facts’ both lyrics that suggest a corrupted system/establishment. Also throughout the song, we have little moments where the main vocal cuts out and we hear backing vocals, this creates an even more punk vibe as it is made to sound a bit like a chant or a rallying cry from maybe protestors. The guitar ability of the song is very good with the drums being outstanding; the bass/backing vocals make the song a very decent punk rock song overall. With the decline in punk rock in recent years, it is probably very easy to be put off creating this genre of music but I admire this bands vision and look forward to seeing them grow. The song has a very strong structure from start to finish; listening to it I could tell that a lot of thought and time has been put into this. Eventually, the song fades out, as they unfortunately do. Solid 8 out of 10 for me.

If the band are planning more gigs around the UK that means there must be more that they have in the pipeline which is very exciting. They have also created some very cool artwork for the band which can be found on their Instagram page, I will leave all their links below. The band are very talented individuals with bright futures in the music business. I would like to think I am somewhat a big punk rock fan so trust me these guys are too good to miss. Make sure to give their new single ‘ Fire in Our Eyes’ a listen, it is available on Saturday 29th February on all major streaming platforms. If you could drop a view on this blog and a like I would really appreciate it too. Peace.