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Review |
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Massachusetts metalcore heroes Shadows Fall have
returned with their 7th studio album “Fire
From The Sky”, and by God is it a corker.
Their previous few albums “Retribution”
and “Threads of Life” were hit and miss
with me to say the least; a few amazing songs with
the rest being not bad but a bit bland in comparison,
for that matter that’s been the same general
consensus with me in regards to all of their albums
apart from “The War Within” which was
quite simply brilliant. What makes this release
so different I hear you ask? Well it would be my
pleasure to let you in on it.
The simplest thing I would say is that everything
is enhanced, that’s the first thing I noticed
but it’s much deeper than that; the tones
are crisper, the vocals have more depth and range,
there’s ominous melodies laced with eerie
clean vocal work and as per usual some tremendous
guitar work. Album opener “Unknown”
start us off in the way that the album consistently
follows until it’s end, everything I’ve
just described that enhances the band’s sound
is present here, starting off with some quick guitar
work before it gradually drops more and more into
a mesh of heavy metal chaos, this chorus too is
just perfect as it’s a balanced blend of heavy
and soft with ominous toned backing and infectious
lyrics.
Some of my personal favourites lie with “Nothing
Remains” which has the most memorable chorus
line as it’s far too catchy as well as being
extremely freaking bouncy, “Lost Within”
is still chaotic but the soothing melodies give
it a calmer feel even though it isn’t and
the albums longest track “Blind Faith”
as this song really covers all ground and displays
the full extent of this new approach. A couple months
ago I had a bash at reviewing God Forbid’s
new album “Equilibrium” and near enough
everything I wrote about that can be applied here
as they’ve opted for the same sort of style
progression, minus the tribal styled sound. It’s
this progression that has impressed me as there
are no song’s here that are particularly soft
as they’ve really rooted to their heavier
style unlike some of the previous albums where there
were moments of sheer brutality wrapped in bubble
wrap that was their lighter side.
So having made that comparison with God Forbid who’s
album was fantastic, I think I can finally safely
say that my wish has come true and metalcore is
back on the rise once again as not only these 2
bands have released corkers; Bleeding Through, Rise
to Remain, Five Finger Death Punch and many others
have also released some of the best material of
the careers, as far as this album goes it’s
easily at the top of the ladder in regards to quality
and I would love another chance to see them over
here in the UK.
5/5
Review by James Webb |
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| Band
Members |
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Brian Fair
Matt Bachand
Jon Donais
Paul Romanko
Jason Bittner |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. The Unknown
2. Divide And Conquer
3. Weight of the World
4. Nothing Remains
5. Fire From The Sky
6. Save Your Soul
7. Blind Faith
8. Lost Within
9. Walk The Edge
10. The Wasteland |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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