Matthew Williams, The Sleeping Shaman:

If you want an introduction into the world of psychedelic rock mixed with shoegaze, that’s blended with electronica and all wrapped up in layers of cosmic wonderment, then you don’t need to look much further than Brazilian group Firefriend.
 
 Sulfur was originally released in 2018, but it’s as culturally relevant now as it was then and having witnessed them perform at The Globe in Glossop back in September 2025, I can honestly say that live, they are a class apart.
 
 The band simply sparkle on stage, and it’s where you get a real feel for what they are about. They produce so much music that it’s hard to keep up, but this re-release via Cardinal Fuzz (UK) and Feeding Tube Records (USA) is worth purchasing
 
 I got into Firefriend a few years ago, when I reviewed Rcknrll, so I dug deeper into their catalogue where Sulfur first emerged. With thought-provoking imagery, the album instantly comes alive with Afterhours as Julia Grassetti’s voice leads you from Earth to another dimension. It’s dark and hypnotic, with the added guitars from Yury Hermuche coming over you in waves of hedonistic pleasure that continue into Pacific Trash Vortex.
 
 There is so much going on during this track, as it drags you kicking and screaming into the murky underbelly of their home city, São Paulo. Its title is about the ‘real world consequence of a system that produces endlessly and disposes endlessly’ as the gritty bassline from Grassetti makes something beautiful from the surrounding misery. The title track takes the album to another level, though, with electronic noises fizzing about all over the composition, like a firework on Bonfire Night.
 
 the steady bass lays the path for swirling guitars and excitable electronica to cascade over us like a tsunami of psychedelic noise…
 
 The band let their music do the talking as the stench of capitalism wreaks havoc upon society and the environment. Sulfur represents escapism in its finest form; the echoed voices collide and clash with the subtle rhythms, leaving you not knowing what sound is popping up next as they fly off in so many tangents. I’m sure this is what studying theoretical physics must be like, as the possibilities are endless and constantly evolving. Hello From The Children Of Planet Earth initially has more tempo about it, but you are still immersed in a transfixed mental state. It’s like an out-of-body experience as the metronomic drumming from Casa Ameral keeps the cogs turning.
 
 There’s a brooding bass line at the start of Cosmic Background Radiation that further enhances their reputation of writing masterful melodies, but it’s the layered vocal harmonies that stand out for me. They create an atmosphere that invokes a visceral reaction as the fuzzy nature of the rhythms makes you feel simultaneously comfortable and uncomfortable. The electronica sparks into life during Solipsism as they force you to look beyond the philosophical position that only one’s own mind is certain to exist.
 
 Their psychedelic musings are open-eyed and innovative, forcing the listener to recognise what we must do to survive. The fact that these themes and messages resonate today as it did upon release eight years ago is quite telling, as the unease around the world intensifies, with the battle between Bolsonaro and Lula is not only Brazil’s reality anymore. They end with Vintage Puzzle as the steady bass lays the path for swirling guitars and excitable electronica to cascade over us like a tsunami of psychedelic noise.