It is also the last time for the lineup of Jimmie Lee Sloas, Ron Hemby, David Will and Armond Morales from their previous album This Year's Model (1987) as Sloas left the group in 1989 to focus more behind the scenes as a bass guitar player, producer and songwriter and would go on to form the Christian Rock band Dogs of Peace with former Whiteheart guitarist and vocalist Gordon Kennedy.

Producer Bill Schnee retained a few elements of the big electronic sound developed by his predecessor, Brown Bannister.

But most of the power and texture of the production, as well as the dark, mysterious tone that had generated so much excitement about the so-called 'new' Imperials the previous year, were discarded completely."

Cater also said from the This Year's Model review that "the new Imperials had gone the way of the moonwalk, as the band turned in the styling gel and retreated to the safer, church-friendly vibe that made them famous"[5] for this album.

Over at Cross Rhythms, Mike Rimmer rated the album 7 out of 10 saying that This Year's Model "had taken them in a rockier direction and they'd lost fans so for 'Free The Fire' they returned to a poppier sound, although it was still infused with plenty of slick, '80s production from Bill Schnee and several of the tracks here sounded more than a bit like a black R&B group."