Review by Joshua on November 27, 2004.

Swedish death metal is propagating southward, and the Dutch are perfecting its method. Fire Reflects in Ashes is precisely the type of Swedish death metal that most musicians have all but abandoned: No keyboards, no non-traditional instruments, five guys with guitars, bass and talented drums. Include some interesting hook lines, catchy rhythms, and all the trappings of vintage Swedish heavy metal, and that’s a quick description of Instil.

Here’s another way of looking at them: Picture a mixture of The Haunted, Arch Enemy, The Crown, and Edge of Sanity. Add a hardcore influence to the vocals. Master it at Antfarm Studios -- Denmark’s other contribution to civilization, right after Elephant beer -- so it sounds just like The Haunted. You’re done. That was easy, wasn’t it?

Instil are clearly talented, but they don’t distance themselves very much from their influences; rather than covering new or experimental ground, they’re improving on well-honed musical ideas. Granted, this is a common technique for young bands. It enables a band like Instil to write interesting music with very little experience. Unfortunately, though, the end result is predictable: excellent songs that are only transiently entertaining, because their material is never groundbreaking enough to be lastingly memorable.

I’m not suggesting this is a bad album. I’m not even calling it unoriginal. It just isn’t especially groundbreaking. In fact, Fire Reflects in Ashes has a few excellent songs -- the title track, “Chimera”, and “Transient” stand out as shining examples. It even shows off real, promising talent. However, this band does almost nothing their musical influences don’t -- unless you count a hilarious Tom Petty cover. It’s great Swedish death metal, in the vein of The Haunted and The Crown, but it could benefit from some diversification.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 6
Production: 7
Originality: 5
Overall: 7

Rating: 6.6 out of 10

Review by Adam M on April 22, 2015.

Strategem is a fiery inferno of power and chaos while it lasts. And it certainly doesn’t last long, so you should soak in the heaviness while it lasts. Fulgora have presented excellent song-writing and riffs that have massive amounts of appealing dissonance in equal measures.

All tracks are tight, focused and a joy to listen to. There is certainly the correct type of music for a quick head-banging fix. The tunes work very well for this mood. The band features members of Pig Destroyer and Misery Index amongst others and you can feel the influences in every huge riff. The grind, death metal and hardcore all take equal measures here and though none of them ever completely sticks out, the band’s attitude suits the styles present at all times. The track Crutch is a favorite of mine from the album that is so punishing that it’s almost groovy. Certainly one of the better tracks I’ve heard from this year thus far. The remainder of the tracks are no slouches either, featuring a nice mix of straight-out aggression and breakdowns. There is the issue of short length with this album and even though it has some grind elements, things end a little too fast.

Hopefully this is only a warm-up for someone more in the future. The band has the right degree of harsh atmosphere mixed with tight song-craft, so it’s only natural that bigger and better things should arise from this album. Fulgora are already equipped with the correct punishing sound for an aggressive mood. This album is thoroughly exciting and engaging, but only leaves the listener wanting more. Still the suffocating quality of Fulgora makes Strategem the perfect soundtrack for all your head-banging needs.

Rating: 8 out of 10