Walk Through the Fire works really well because it has all the best singers really working together in one song, and the stakes are higher in this one than almost any other song. ASH gets to display some of his best vocals, aside from Where Do We go from Here? JM gets some nice harmony with Hinton Battle, and he gets to show off a range of emotions in a few short bars of music. Amber Benson's high notes are simply angelic, and this coupled with the focus on Tara's face in shadow seems to foreshadow Tara's demise on the show. Battle of course, is essential, as it is his voice that ties everyone together and he has the difficult task of making everyone sound better by simply harmonizing with the others. Still, Battle gets a few of his best notes here. Even Alyson's "I think this line is mostly filler" is unexpectedly hilarious.
All this being said, Rest in Peace was unexpectedly good! The first time I realized I was in for a musical episode, I held my breath when the music started on this one, because I liked the character a lot, and realized the actor's singing could really kill the role if done poorly. I was absolutely delighted to find he was one of the best singers in the show, and perfectly matched to the rocker sound one would expect from Spike! Spike absolutely had to have a rocker sound. No other would have worked for the character, and it's still one of the songs I keep returning to as a soundtrack.
Poor old Hinton Battle I fear gets forgotten about largely because he is so good, and no one else was expected to be so. Everyone gets hung up talking about the others because they were a delightful surprise, whereas Battle was expected to be superb.
