13 tracks · 55 min
Prior to the Fire is the second studio album by Canadian hard rock group Priestess. Its initial release occurred on October 20, 2009, by Indica Records in Canada. As the band took more progressive rock influences and applied them to their songwriting, the group changed their lyrical focus and wrote about more obscure themes, such as film and television characters, for this album. The group intentionally aimed for a different set of production values than those that had governed Hello Master, as they felt that that album was too polished in its production and wanted Prior to the Fire to sound more natural.
The record is known for its difficult production history. The band started work on the album later than they had hoped due to scheduling conflicts with producers. After the release of Hello Master, the band toured extensively in support of the album and had disputes with RCA Records, their American label at the time, about the material they planned to record for their follow-up. RCA eventually gave in and let them into the studio to record what they had written. After it was done and had already been stalled further due to noise violation warnings during recording, the record was still delayed for a long time because RCA refused to release it for fear that it would not be profitable; the group left the label and signed to Tee Pee Records who released it instead. Its release elsewhere was also delayed while the group sought out a label to release the album in the US.
