Breeze

Fire-Toolz is one of the many pseudonyms of Angel Marcloid, a Chicago-based transgender experimental artist and mixing/mastering engineer originally from Baltimore. Her work as Fire-Toolz is intense, confrontational, and schizophrenic, stitching together shreds of genres ranging from electro-industrial, digital grindcore, and black metal to new age, smooth jazz, and vaporwave. Subject matter includes Internet culture, sexuality, severe isolation, and spirituality. The project first appeared in 2015, and continued evolving through albums such as 2018's Skinless X-1 and the more hook-focused 2023 effort I am upset because I see something that is not there.

Marcloid has been making music since the '90s, first getting into prog and metal before fronting several emo bands. She then became known throughout the harsh noise scene as Pregnant Spore, among countless other monikers, and ran the cassette/CD-R label Rainbow Bridge, as well as the digital imprint Swamp Circle. Fire-Toolz debuted in late 2015 with the cassette Even the Files Won't Touch You and the digital release Further Down the Files. Drip Mental appeared on Hausu Mountain in 2017, and Interbeing followed on Bedlam Tapes later in the year. Skinless X-1, Fire-Toolz's first vinyl release, was issued by Hausu Mountain in 2018, receiving widespread critical acclaim. Bubble Universe!, the debut from Marcloid's smooth jazz-influenced side project Nonlocal Forecast, was released by the label in 2019, while Fire-Toolz's Field Whispers (Into the Crystal Palace) appeared on Orange Milk Records later in the year. Marcloid also issued Triangular Reformat, a remix album featuring tracks by both monikers. Aside from these two projects, she also released numerous vaporwave albums as MindSpring Memories, and several experimental tapes as Angelwings Marmalade.

Fire-Toolz returned to Hausu Mountain in 2020 with Rainbow Bridge, a reflection on mortality, compassion, and grief, titled after Marcloid's defunct label. The self-issued I Can't Die EP appeared in May 2021, and HausMo released the ambitious Eternal Home later in the year. A handful of digital releases, including an album of Rainbow Bridge remixes, appeared in 2022. I am upset because I see something that is not there., featuring an increased presence of clean vocals and pop-influenced hooks, arrived in 2023. ~ Paul Simpson