“The ultimate KP band” exclaimed an exhilarated DiS Boss, Sean, after stumbling across Colour Of Fire at the three-day alcohol and music binge that was Manchester’s In The City, 2002. Much as I hate to admit to being so alarmingly predictable, he wasn’t wrong! I downloaded the instantly addictive ‘Decisions, Decisions’ and ‘My Secret Life of Violence’ MP3’s from their web site and shortly afterwards found myself shamelessly harassing guitarist/vocalist, Stuart Jones, for a copy of the recently recorded new demo.

That was two months or so ago and since then that demo CD has barely been left alone long enough to cool down, and the opening track has been instated as my #1 jumping-around-the-room-playing-air-guitar-and-silent-screaming anthem. Confidently flaunting Icarus Line influences and a love of punk rock sensibilities, ‘Robot Rock’ kick starts the EP, booting you in the teeth, gripping your throat and belting an irate scream little more than an inch from your face.

So, yeah! They can do ‘grimy and dirty’ but hell, Colour Of Fire ain’t just another 80’s NY punk-scene throwback. They’ve mastered the art of combining crunchy, jagged guitars and subtle-yet-beautiful harmonies, with voices wrapping around each other, interweaving and bringing an awakening sense of urgency and lust. Even the potentially lifeless progressive beats and repetitive bass line of 'Thom’s Case' are revived and made irresistible with the versatile, spirited vocals, capped and highlighted by the voice of fellow guitar/vocalist, Owen Richards.

Theme track ‘Colour of Fire’ once again calls for the abuse of some imaginary instruments …And then there’s the final track, 'Candles'. Like some kind of portal back to the age of 12, the cycling guitars and heart fluttering vocals send shivers of excited apprehension down your spine. It’s that innocent feeling when you discovered your crush felt the same, of nervously holding hands and awkwardly fumbling for your first kiss. Of naively thinking this must be love and of being completely crushed when it all abruptly ended…

Y’know it’s difficult rating demo’s, ‘cause when you’ve spent the whole time basing your judgement on the fact that they’ve been recorded on a budget and are, afterall, just a demo and you then get something like this, it sort of throws the whole system straight out of the window. If someone handed me this “demo” and told me it was the debut single from some hot new major label signing who’re gonna take over the world, I would not dare doubt them, not even for a moment.

Whatever happens, one thing’s for sure, Colour of Fire are in the future. They’re gonna be big, hell if they stick with it - who knows where they could go. And it is with that in mind that I hang carefully onto the small post-it note that accompanied the CD, with a notion somewhere in the back of my mind that one day, just maybe it might be thought of as something very, very special...