Fit For A King has returned with their sixth full-length record, The Hell We Create! I fell in love with this band after seeing them at last year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Their stage presence and vocalist Ryan Kirby’s impressive 24 second long scream during “Backbreaker” was enough to interest me, but the depth of their lyrics and vulnerability in their songs is what really hooked me.
The Hell We Create is by far the band's deepest and most personal album they ever created.
Ryan Kirby said, “It is a reflection of the events that happened throughout the pandemic. In short, my wife and I adopted children and had to homeschool them. She almost died from a stroke.” He went on to say, “I want to raise self-awareness. It’s not just important to fight for ourselves, but we’re fighting for others. You can reach out for help even if you’re scared. I know I was. I hope we can all reflect on not only what we put ourselves through, but what we put others through.”
Ryan Kirby explains the second track, “End (The Other Side),” as “one of the most personal songs I have ever written, lyrically.” Is about his wife's near death experience after having a stroke. The experience not only showed him how unprepared he was to lose her, but how unprepared he is to face death. He also said, “I am fortunate to have not dealt with much death in my life, but I learned, in the end, that death comes for us all.”
My personal favorite off the album is still the first single they released, “Reaper.” The first single a band drops for a new album is the most important song they will release. Not only does it set the tone for the whole album, but it reflects what the band is at that moment. Now that the album’s out, I don’t think they could have picked a more perfect song for the first single. The song is partly inspired by a German TV show, Dark, which Ryan Kirby said he became "obsessed with" while they were in the studio. He said, "The show really had me reflect on how finite our time on earth is – that we have no control, no matter how rich, religious, or diligent," Ryan explains. "Time is truly the Grim Reaper."
Appropriately enough, the deepest cut was saved for the end. ‘What You Left Behind’ dives into Kirby speaking out against his now-adopted children’s abusive father. “This is the damage you did to them / This is what you left behind when you left them.”
The Hell We Create is raw with no sugar coating. It shows that you can make it through your situation, even if you feel like there's no fight left and you can come out the other side, not unscathed, but unbroken. Though the album is about personal experience that the band went through, it’s also relatable to everyone. No matter where you’ve come from or what you’ve gone through, we all dealt with some shit. This album really shows you can make heavy songs with really nasty breakdowns and still make them as emotional as hell.
Fit For a King is currently on tour with I Prevail and Pierce the Veil until November 22! Go to the show and be some of the first to hear these new songs live! Have you heard the new album? Let us know what you think down below!
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