“Firebreak”
by Sky Sunlight Saxon Universal Stars Peace Band
1984 song
"Firebreak" is arguably the best song on Side 1 of the 1984 LP Masters Of Psychedelia. Under the name Sky Sunlight Saxon Universal Stars Peace Band, Sky and his anonymous heavy metal bandmates plough through some dense and distorted psych soup – while somehow staying nimble. "Firebreak" is every bit the muffled stoner rock of its brethren on the album but veers closer to a conventional mainstream feel.
That’s thanks in large part to the blues-based guitar hero wankery that begins "Firebreak", more intricate than the pummeling most of the tracks (and the rest of "Firebreak", actually) offer. With eyes half open, Sky Saxon and his slipshod double-tracked vocals are drawn from the same well as his other songs of this period: vague and disgusted mutterings about the sorry state of the world. “There’s a fire breaking out across America, for SURE,” he growls, in a voice that says he isn’t to blame but also doesn’t think much of our chances for salvation. One thing’s for sure: nobody is safe inside their “seven-story glass buildings” with that fire creeping up the stairwell. Don’t say he didn’t warn you, whatever the undefined problem may be.
As the American landscape burns in catastrophic conflagration, Sky’s band demonstrates the scene musically. Mostly they steam along with fuzzy vigor, meaty but muffled. The guitar has some great effects on the “breakdown” parts of the song, some quick scrapes across muted strings that ring out like a siren against a horrible black and orange inferno.
"Firebreak", hopeless and angry, is actually great fun to listen to despite its downer sentiments. Sky would adopt a more hopeful outlook with Fire Wall after the Masters Of Psychedelia era even though his warnings would remain dire. This is a chance to hear the more pessimistic side of Mr. Flower Power.
