‘Diversity is our strength’ is a sort of modern mantra I often hear bandied about whenever I forget myself and switch on the Television. If this is indeed the case, then American rockers Fire From The Gods should rename themselves Samson, as they quite literally manage to cover every facet of modern popular music (except cold Nordic black metal, natch) over the course of their new album American Sun. It’s diverse, yes – and FFTG are also pretty strong… Hide the scissors!

At one minute you’re getting involved in jumpdafuckup bro metal, only to have your brain completely mashed by on-a-dime changes of direction – now melodica-infused reggae a la King Tubby, Linkin Parkesque emo whining, Bad Brains-y anger… Fire From The Gods leave no stone unturned to let you know just how wide their influence base is…

This is all well and good, of course, but it’s nothing new, either – Welsh rockers Skindred have been mixing ragga and rock for over two decades, whilst Max Cavalera, God luv ‘im, has been painstakingly explaining his one-world theology for even longer. But Fire From The Gods add a slick, American radio-rock sheen to their melting pot that will render them virtually irresistible to the ears of the yout’. Imagine Incubus having lived in a squat with Joe Strummer for a while, and you’re getting close to the sort of continent-demolishing potential this band would appear to possess. Especially in the fervid, venal minds of record company executives…

That’s no attempt to besmirch the characters of any of the band members involved – I’m sure they are all very sincere – but there’s just a little too much of the calculated ‘industry standard’ about some of the music on offer here to truly appeal to those who’ve been around the block a time or two. Victory, for instance, is just a little too perfect in it’s mixing of electro noises, breathy vocals and radio-friendly rabble rousing for it’s own good. That said, it probably isn’t aimed at fifty year-old world-weary punk blokes; However if you are of ‘a certain age’, it’ll be hard not to get just a little excited as Fight The World takes you right back to 1996 in all it’s wallet-chained glory. Swings and roundabouts I guess.

At the end of the day it’s hard not to like Fire From The Gods. Have a listen to this album’s standout track All My Heroes Are Dead and tell me I’m wrong…

American Sun is out on November 1st