Perseverance, growth, introspection, and connection: these things have been at the heart of Firmament since they began back in 2014. Over the past decade, the Ohio-based melodic metalcore/progressive rock group—comprised of brothers Eric.and Brandon Carbenia—have seen plenty of highs and lows; yet, in hindsight, it’s clear that every triumph and tribulation was a valuable (if not necessary) steppingstone to A New World If You Can Take It, the duo’s stunningly sophisticated and spiritual sophomore LP. Expanding upon everything that made their debut LP (2018’s Spirit of Place) such a terrific introduction, A New World If You Can Take It is a breathtaking journey that further solidifies Firmament’s musical and philosophical brilliance.
Originally, the Carbenia brothers were joined by drummer Matt Spradling and bassist Alex Herstine (friends who shared a similar love for jazz fusion and prog rock). In 2016, they traveled from Ohio to Northern California and back (visiting as many states as possible while having no money) to help fund Spirit of Place. All the while, they dealt with peculiar people, risky situations, and financial burdens. Fortunately, their efforts paid off, as the record—produced by Eric Emery (Skyharbor) and mastered by Jamie King (The Contortionist, Scale the Summit)—was among the best genre debuts of the decade. In fact, PROG magazine called it a “highly impressive” and “distinctive” effort that “screams talent” and warrants comparisons to icons such as “Karnivool, Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Porcupine Tree.” Spirit of Place also received radioplay across the globe.
Despite how much success it brought Firmament, the band decided to go on hiatus due to their financial woes and internal hardships (including the departures of Spradling and Herstine due to them no longer wanting to pursue music full-time). From there, the Carbenia brothers relocated to Austin, Texas and focused on surviving the COVID-19 pandemic amidst learning all they could about music production and the industry as a whole. They also dove deeper into spirituality—including drum circles and astral journeys—as they revised their plans for Firmament’s future. They even formed psychedelic rock trio Temple Garden with Jimmy Cosner!
After returning to Ohio in 2023, they dedicated themselves to channeling all of their artistic, technical, and spiritual evolutions into the next Firmament project: A New World If You Can Take It. Self-produced and mastered by Kris Crummett (Dance Gavin Dance, Good Tiger) and Jens Bogren (The Ocean, Spiritbox, BTBAM) between Ohio and Bogren’s legendary Fascination Street Studios in Sweden, Firmament’s second full-length statement presents the pair at their full potential, delivering a tighter, broader, and more irresistible collection that emphasizes their love of modern metalcore, art rock, and progressive post-hardcore.
Expectedly, Firmament’s main goal was to craft a record that expands their sound while reaching (if not surpassing) the bar set by Spirit of Place. “Stylistically and thematically, it’s a heavier album,” Eric reflects. “It retains a lot of Spirit of Place’s exploratory nature and mystery, but it’s darker and more personal. It reflects our growth as musicians, too, in that I’m a lot more comfortable with my voice and Brandon worked day and night to become a great songwriter and engineer.”
Delving deeper into the LP’s multifaceted inspirations, Eric adds:
"Metalcore" doesn't really mean the same thing that it did when we were growing up, and it’s a particularly interesting subgenre these days. A New World If You Can Take It blends the alternative metal and “new prog” sounds of our older material with metalcore, djent, and progressive post-hardcore in interesting ways. As with Spirit of Place, a lot of its lyrics and conceptual material comes from philosophies I've been reading about and experiences that we've had talking to people with alternative worldviews.
For example, we spent time with a sect of apocalyptic Hare Krishnas in West Virginia. We went up the hill from Moundsville (a rust-belt town with a famously haunted penitentiary next to a giant burial mound) to an isolated golden palace devoted to Srila Prabhupada (the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness). It's a beautiful place, and among the people living there is a small group who believe that demons will soon arise from the inner earth and that the "UFO people" might be able to succeed where The Beatles failed. They were very cool and sweet, and they had a big impact on us.
In general, we seek out experiences like that, and they inevitably work their way into our music alongside more personal themes and reflections on religious philosophy and mysticism. Not all of our songs are about that, though. There are also lyrics about processing the loss of someone you love and about uncertainties regarding the myriad possible futures you may face.
Of course, the band is also motivated by their home state, especially in terms of its supernatural history and economic struggles. Eric elaborates:
We grew up exploring local legends and places, including a witches' cemetery and a strange road where voices come over AM radio. There are also abandoned brick factories and tunnels whose functions are completely forgotten. Ohio has tons of haunted house attractions, and Halloween is everyone's favorite holiday. It's truly built into the spirit of the place.
There's a good reason Ohio is a part of what’s called the "Rust Belt," too. Things are hard for a lot of people, such as with the enduring opioid problem, and Canton (where we're from) is considered one of the ten worst places for violent crime in the U.S. So, many people are living day-to-day as the ghosts that they play on Halloween. As a band, we’re about coming to grips with these “ghosts” and finding spirituality through them.
Unsurprisingly, keeping Firmament going as a two-piece has been challenging since, Eric confesses, “it affords us a lot of freedom, but there’s a lot more work divided among fewer people.” It’s a testament to their tenacity and talent, then, that A New World If You Can Take It is such a confident and compelling ride.
Speaking of putting the record together, Eric explains how it was “recorded and produced mostly one song at a time over a year and a half, which was certainly time-consuming but also great for saving money. Brandon did most of the writing, and I did tracking and pre-production on the vocals. Because we didn’t have a full band, we performed or programmed all of the instruments ourselves.”
“It was a fun process, though, because we could experiment and challenge ourselves,” Brandon adds. “We incorporated ciphers, backmasking, voice scrambling, and codes throughout the record. For instance, ‘Cherub’ has the titular word encoded throughout it. We used a musical cryptogram (like the ‘B-A-C-H’ motif that Johann Sebastian Bach worked into his pieces).”
Furthermore, “Liquid Lush” has “a melodic section that was formed by creating a ‘magic square,’ sequencing the section accordingly, and then grafting the square onto a 6x6 grid of truncated pyramids and assigned other attributes for a lyrical cipher,” Eric clarifies. “There are 52 monosyllabic words in the song, too, and each was put onto a playing card and then drawn to randomly assign them to the squares on the grid.”
Obviously, having Bogren on board was a huge help, too. “He’s worked with some of our favorite bands—such as Pain of Salvation, Leprous, and Opeth—so we knew early on that we wanted to work with him. He’s been an invaluable part of the process,” Eric rejoices. Likewise, they brought in Crummett to get a swancore sound on “Liquid Lush.” Eric comments: “His background with bands such as Dance Gavin Dance, Closure in Moscow, Alesana, and Eidola really helped give that song the push it needed.”
Similarly, they wanted Present mastermind Alex Hunter to sing on “Benedictional” because her presence was “perfect” for it. “I’ve been listening to their stuff for a while, and when I heard their most recent material, I knew she’d blow us away. We’re really happy with how that one turned out,” Eric states.
Although A New World If You Can Take It isn’t a concept album, it’s sequenced so that the tracks purposefully lead into each other. Eric expounds:
“Liquid Lush” and “A Silence Made for Two” bookend the collection, and you can see a progression from where it starts to where it ends (with earlier songs introducing concepts that come back later). Plus, the track order reinforces the “Time and Alchemy” theme of the record, which relates to the end of a season of life, a personal apocalypse, or the eschaton. Specifically, “Angels in Vermilion,” “Conduit,” and “Deadringer” tell a single story about someone who’s unable to cope with loss (so their relationship with endings and time leads to their own armageddon). In contrast, “A Silence Made for Two” and “Cherub” are about accepting the end when it comes.
Even the album’s name and artwork reflect its overarching glimpse into existentialism, destiny, and finality. “There are a lot of ways you can take the title,” Eric admits. “Like, can you handle what’s coming? Are you able to ‘take’ the future that you want?” As for the artwork of the album and its singles, they’re a mix of different photographic techniques and digital compositing. The cover of the ‘Conduit' single, for example, is a recreated scene of a Victorian table-tipping session composited in long-exposure shots to make what looks like ectoplasm. Then there’s the Firmament sigil that draws upon the Western magical tradition of sigil-making. “Essentially, it’s all the letters of the word ‘Firmament’ collapsed into a glyph, and it’s somewhat modeled after the hieroglyphic Monad of John Dee,” Eric describes.
Clearly, there’s a lot to discover and ponder regarding the themes and visuals of A New World If You Can Take It. Thankfully, Firmament ensure that each piece is just as spellbinding musically and lyrically.
From the atmospheric richness and rhythmic heft of “Liquid Lush” and the poignantly multifaceted title track, to the all-encompassing eclecticism of “A Silence Made for Two”; the crushing metalcore complexities of “After Me, The Flood”; and the alt-rock poppiness of “Benedictional,” A New World If You Can Take It is a tour-de-force of stunning melodies, instrumentation, and songwriting that simply can’t be missed.
- Jordan Blum, 2024
