FIRE!

The Hands 8/10

Swedish gothic metal, played by jazz musicians

Fire! comprise three Swedish jazz musicians – on saxes, bass and drums – but their music rarely sounds like jazz. Instead, the default setting is loudspeaker-rattling sludge rock, based around Johan Berthling’s thick, grinding, ostinato basslines. “When Her Lips Collapsed” sees Mats Gustafsson howling on a baritone sax over a slo-mo 6/4 pulse; “To Shave The Leaves. In Red. In Black” is a frankly terrifying piece of spartan, gothic metal, where Gustafsson sounds like he’s mutilating a hymn on the tenor sax. Best of all is the fidgety, one-chord funk of “Washing Your Heart In Filth”, where Andreas Werliin sounds like three drummers playing at once.