Quest for Fire’s Scorching Hardcore

As I have noted in this column time andtime again, Milwaukeeis quickly becoming a center for quality hardcore bands. Groups like Get Rad,Protestant and Party by the Slice are all pushing the genre to the limit,highlighting that hardcore can still sound fresh after all these years. Add tothis the fact that the city has a number of venueslike the Borg Ward, Frank’sPower Plant and newcomer Bay View Brew Hausunafraid of booking such groups andit’s easy to see why Milwaukee is fertile ground for the growing of such vitalacts.

After hearing a number of the songsthat Quest for Fire recently recorded with %uFFFDber-producer Shane Hochstetler athis Howl Street Recordings, I would have to put the group at the top of thelist of these excellent Milwaukee-based bands. Like many of their brethren inthe city, Quest for Fire draws liberally from the history of Midwesternhardcore punk: Songs such as “Life Sucks JWGFU” and “Billion Strong Swarm”wouldn’t sound out of place on a mixtape with the likes of The Necros, The Fix,and Die Kreuzen. But there is also a Greg Ginn-inspired feel to the guitarleads on such tracks, a comparison that the band would undoubtedly welcome.After all, on their MySpace page Quest for Fire colorfully describes theirsound as “Black Flag smoking salvia,” a psychoactive plant that often inducesdissociative effects.

All of these influences come togethermasterfully on “Finding Dead Bodies on Accident.” On this track you can hearthe needle moving into the red as all players push themselves to the limit. Thefeedback squeals present here are not added for effect or decorationthey arewhat you get when the guitar is pushed to its breaking point (a similar feel ispresent in the start-and-stop pummeling of “Star Child”). Thankfully, suchsongs never fully come undone, as the band knows when to pull back and moveinto a breath-catching breakdown.

Despite the pure power of Quest forFire’s effective thrash, I am most intrigued by the band’s “Hive Queen” and“cthulhu,” two songs that clock in at over three minutes. In hardcore punk timethree minutes can seem like an eternity, yet here it doesn’t seem long enough;in fact, I wanted to hear more. On “Hive Queen,” a mid-tempo rocker, the band soundsas if it is drawing from such Man’s Ruin acts as Fu Manchu and Nebula. Awah-wah pedal is employed to great effect as the band settles into a searinggroove. A similar aesthetic is present on “cthulhu.” Yet on this track the bandmarries this more rock-and-roll vibe with their love of fast-and-loud punk.Such a marriage comes across as a strange yet compelling blend, one that I hopethe band continues to explore.

Questfor Fire plays a release show for their self-titled LP on Wednesday, June 23,at the Borg Ward Collective with Genesis Climber, Jeff the Brotherhood and DearAstronaut.