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Detroit-based hard rock group Eva Under Fire are just four days away from releasing their debut album “Love, Drugs & Misery”, and you aren’t ready for the raw emotion, grit and the in-your-face, pure kick-ass rock that’s about to come from this band! An album a little more than two years delayed due to the global pandemic, Eva Under Fire is set to take the world by storm with this emotion-invoking and thought-provoking album!
📸 – Jeremy Saffer
Having first discovered this band in 2017 with their full-length release entitled “Anchors”, and their two EP’s “War” & “Heavy on The Heart”, I’ve enjoyed the energy and raw talent this band has for a few years now. As they prepare to drop their debut album with Better Noise Music, the release sees a breath of fresh air for the hard rock scene! Having come on the scene in 2015 as just a small local bar-scene rock band, Eva Under Fire quickly gained traction in the local scene, building a dedicated and large fan base quicker than they could’ve imagined. Having recently performed with talents such as Asking Alexandria, Nothing More, Atreyu & Halestorm, this fast-rising band is showing what hard work, determination and never taking no for an answer can accomplish.
In addition to being lead singer for Eva Under Fire and a huge advocate for mental health, Eva Marie is also a practicing clinical psychologist. Having not been sure which direction she wanted to take, a young Eva decided that she wanted to help people by making meaningful human connections with others by any means necessary, so she took classes during the day and did her band at night. Eva often jokes that the universe then laughed at her, because the same year that she graduated with her master’s degree was the same year the band got their record deal.
Eva Marie has also had the opportunity to write for Loudwire! This past May, once Loudwire realized that not only does the band sing about mental health, but that Eva is a practitioner as well, they seized an opportunity to ask Eva to write a month-long series on mental health covering topics such as anxiety, substance abuse, body image and grief, which are topics covered on the album as well.
This album really showcases the talent and diversity of the entire band. The band is Eva Marie on vocals, Rob Ryberg & Chris Slapnik on guitars, Edward Joseph on bass and Corey Newsom on drums. The vocals are strong, powerful, and at times vulnerable and filled with emotion. The guitars/bass lock in so incredibly well together, whether riffing or during a lead and the drums are tight and really bring everything together incredibly well.
Kicking off the album is “Blow”, a high intensity, high energy track featuring Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills which absolutely kills as an album opener! This track is also included on the soundtrack for the Better Noise Music independent horror film “The Retaliators”, with a pivotal scene from the movie as a part of the music video, so if you haven’t seen the video yet, be sure to check it out.
Tracks like “Unstoppable” stick it to those who try to hold you back and do it with a dose of “You can’t stop me now!” The chorus in this song has a hook that you just can’t get out of your head, and you’ll find yourself hearing it all day! “Gonna light ’em on fire, prove ’em all wrong. Bonnie and Clyde all night long. Gonna be savage, this is our song. Gonna be untouchable, unstoppable.”
I’m not always a fan of when bands do covers, because a lot of the time it’s just a duplication of the song they are covering. Every once in a while, however, you get thrown a curveball with bands such as Evanescence and Disturbed who, whenever they cover a song, it sounds like an original that they wrote. (Thinking of songs like “The Chain”, “Dirty Diana” from Evanescence and “Sound of Silence” and “Land of Confusion” by Disturbed, etc…) Well, I have to say that Eva Under Fire has now accomplished the same feat and have transformed a cover into something so much deeper and beautiful. When I first heard their version of “With or Without You”, a U2 song that while is a great song, has never been my all-time favorite of theirs, I didn’t even recognize it for the first few seconds. What Eva Under Fire has done with this song, for me personally, is simply beautiful and brilliant. Everything from the vocal nuances to the instrumentation and arrangements, to the dynamics throughout this song, it has breathed new life into the song and has given it brand new meaning. With U2 not having been a direct influence on Eva’s background, this allowed her to come up with her own cadence to the song. I’m now a huge fan of this song because of this version.
Songs like “Another Shot Through the Heart” & “Misery” are two more songs where the power and versatility in Eva’s voice really shines. The melodic hook in the chorus of “Another Shot Through the Heart” and the verses of “Misery” as well. “Misery”, a track seemingly about burning toxic relationships sees a lot of grit and the feeling of being fed up all throughout.
Then there is “The Strong”. If you’re familiar with Eva Under Fire, you’ll recognize this song from their “Heavy on the Heart” EP. While more of a rock ballad, this song is really powerful. The vulnerability in Eva’s voice is evident, but still has so much raw emotion and power. This song has meant a lot to me due to the feeling of isolation and unimportance while in high school, and more recently, having faced deep betrayal from someone I have trusted with so much for so long, having been emotionally abused for years and not supported through one of the hardest years of my life. As a healthcare worker, I worked for about 7 weeks in the ICU during the first lockdown and saw people younger than me with no health conditions pass away from the virus. After developing PTSD and not realizing it for months, then having been infected with Covid myself in late 2020, I started having severe panic attacks for the first time in my life, in addition to being the sickest I’ve ever been for 14 days. By day 9, my oxygen dropped to under 90%. After recovering, I was mocked, laughed at and ridiculed for what I was going through instead of being supported through it by this individual. With lyrics that say “I am the strong, I am the brave. I am the scar; I am the pain. And I will fight by your side until we’re home. You’re not alone.”, I know I’m stronger than this individual.
“Death of Me” is easily going to be a crowd favorite! It’s anthemic in so many ways that many people will be able to relate to. With lots of classic hard-rock riffing throughout the verses and a chorus that just screams for audience participation, this song will get even the most laid-back concert goer jumping!
“Heroin (e)”, another single from the album with a video to go along with it, is a song about not always being able to save the day and not always being able to save our loved ones from themselves. There’s only so much we can do for others before it starts eating away at our own mental health, and sometimes we have to put up that healthy boundary. “I can’t save you, no I can’t change you now. Save your own skin, I’m not your heroine. I can’t save you, now break these chains yourself. Save your own skin, I’m not your heroine.”
“Ghost” is another track that’s probably one of my favorites from this album. Seemingly about a lost love, this track describes the absolute agony of losing someone and the anguish it can bring. I absolutely love the melody in the chorus on this track, as well as the lyrics, because they clearly describe what it feels like when dealing with deep loss. Having lost two really close family members to them taking their own lives and a friend having taken their own life as well, wondering if there was anything I could’ve done to save them, I’ve literally woken up in the middle of the night feeling frozen and alone by the loss. “How I need you, how I can’t breathe. Where have you gone? So far from me. In this moment I can’t fight for you and me. Now I can’t sleep, can’t dream, wake up screaming. Desperate, empty, are you listening? Alone at night is when it hurts the most. Living with your ghost.”
“Coming For Blood” featuring From Ashes to New and “Comatose” featuring Jonathan Dörr of Ego Kill Talent are two absolute fire tracks. “Coming For Blood” is about the moment when you just need to say, “I’m done!” Eva said in our interview that the space she was in when they were writing this song was the space of “Screw all of you. I have been through some things, and I am done!” It’s her way of saying that she was born and bred and made for this and she felt like this was her song to own it. She also said, “I accept zero challengers on that topic because I know who I am and what I am and where I’m meant to be at and this is my space, my life and my journey.” Matt Brandyberry’s rap on this track is absolutely sick and fits so well with the vibe of the song. “Comatose” saw the most authentic studio experience that had no advance ideas or motive until they pieced it together in the studio, and the authenticity shows! Probably the heaviest song on the album, this song absolutely kills it! The riffing is in your face, with heart-pounding drums throughout. This song sees a clear juxtaposition from “Heroin (e)”, in that the punch line is “somebody save me from myself.”
Closing out this amazing journey is “Give Me A Reason”, which has more a keyboard feel, and an easy drum groove during the verses, but builds with some muted 16th-note downstrokes going into the choruses. This song sees, yet again, the more vulnerable side of Eva’s voice, but yet still manages to show an incredible strength and determination.
Verdict: 4.5/5
“Love, Drugs & Misery” releases this Friday, September 23rd, 2022, via Better Noise Music.
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