Shadows Fall- Fallout From The War
Century Media Records, June 2006
By James Willcock
To be honest, I’ve found it hard to really become enthused about this latest offering from Shadows Fall, much as I never found any of the material I heard from, them that interesting in the past. In general I find them too melodic, indeed, when the cleaner vocals begin on In Effigy, the first track on this album, I couldn’t help but think the dreaded e word. That’s right, it sounds emo.
To be fair, this is probably the most melodic moment on the album and it does get much heavier, such as the track that follows, Will To Rebuild, and there are some distinctly bone crushing riffs. Its just those uber melodic bits in between I have trouble with. This is possibly due to my individual taste, and although I do like some metalcore (and I’ll remind everyone at this point, before you submit one of those enlightened, balanced arguments against the genre, such as “I hate metalcore because its gay”, remember- I don’t care what you think, and I doubt anyone else who genuinely wants to know what this album sounds like does either, so don’t bother), I prefer the bands that take their death metal cues from the more brutal end, resulting in bands like Bleeding Through, The Black Dahlia Murder or Hurtlocker.
Anyway, back to the album at hand, there is plenty to like about it if you enjoy this kind of thing. Shadows Fall wear their old school, thrashy influences on their sleeves more than other like minded bands, most evident in the more melodic riffs and particularly the solos, which to me bring up feelings of Iron Maiden/Motorhead stylings. I think the main thing is to note that, as there seems to be no major changes from the other Shadows Fall I have heard, if you’re already a fan of the band, I doubt you will be disappointed in this effort. For those who haven’t heard them before, this may not be the best place to start, as something I have noted on the press report is how this album came to be. It turns out to be, of eleven tracks, three cover songs, preceded by either new tracks or some recycled material from previous sessions. This to me speaks of a stopgap release, designed to make money or fulfil a contract so the band can move labels. Not knowing enough other Shadows Fall material, I couldn’t comment on just how recycled this sounds, but I’ll warn you that it may not be the freshest sounding Shadows Fall material you’ve ever heard (I mean come on, its called Fallout From the War, following the last album, The War Within).
Overall, I would say that this is probably still above most metalcore bands out there, and the cover songs definitely add something different sounding to the proceedings (although Shadows Fall manage to leave their own mark on the song), whether that be for better or worse- I personally love the OTT cheese factor of Teasn' Pleasn', originally by Dangerous Toys. And although I, like I say, think it could all be a bit heavier, and I personally think Brian Fair’s voice could be better, with greater strength and conviction in both the heavy and straight singing moments (for the latter, please see the cover of December by Only Living Witness), I still think this is a well performed album, with excellent production by Zeuss, the man behind the mixing desk for Hatebreed and God Forbid.
UM’s Review Rating Scale
7/10- Above average, but not by much
Official Shadows Fall website
Official Century Media website
Century Media Records, June 2006
By James Willcock
To be honest, I’ve found it hard to really become enthused about this latest offering from Shadows Fall, much as I never found any of the material I heard from, them that interesting in the past. In general I find them too melodic, indeed, when the cleaner vocals begin on In Effigy, the first track on this album, I couldn’t help but think the dreaded e word. That’s right, it sounds emo.
To be fair, this is probably the most melodic moment on the album and it does get much heavier, such as the track that follows, Will To Rebuild, and there are some distinctly bone crushing riffs. Its just those uber melodic bits in between I have trouble with. This is possibly due to my individual taste, and although I do like some metalcore (and I’ll remind everyone at this point, before you submit one of those enlightened, balanced arguments against the genre, such as “I hate metalcore because its gay”, remember- I don’t care what you think, and I doubt anyone else who genuinely wants to know what this album sounds like does either, so don’t bother), I prefer the bands that take their death metal cues from the more brutal end, resulting in bands like Bleeding Through, The Black Dahlia Murder or Hurtlocker.
Anyway, back to the album at hand, there is plenty to like about it if you enjoy this kind of thing. Shadows Fall wear their old school, thrashy influences on their sleeves more than other like minded bands, most evident in the more melodic riffs and particularly the solos, which to me bring up feelings of Iron Maiden/Motorhead stylings. I think the main thing is to note that, as there seems to be no major changes from the other Shadows Fall I have heard, if you’re already a fan of the band, I doubt you will be disappointed in this effort. For those who haven’t heard them before, this may not be the best place to start, as something I have noted on the press report is how this album came to be. It turns out to be, of eleven tracks, three cover songs, preceded by either new tracks or some recycled material from previous sessions. This to me speaks of a stopgap release, designed to make money or fulfil a contract so the band can move labels. Not knowing enough other Shadows Fall material, I couldn’t comment on just how recycled this sounds, but I’ll warn you that it may not be the freshest sounding Shadows Fall material you’ve ever heard (I mean come on, its called Fallout From the War, following the last album, The War Within).
Overall, I would say that this is probably still above most metalcore bands out there, and the cover songs definitely add something different sounding to the proceedings (although Shadows Fall manage to leave their own mark on the song), whether that be for better or worse- I personally love the OTT cheese factor of Teasn' Pleasn', originally by Dangerous Toys. And although I, like I say, think it could all be a bit heavier, and I personally think Brian Fair’s voice could be better, with greater strength and conviction in both the heavy and straight singing moments (for the latter, please see the cover of December by Only Living Witness), I still think this is a well performed album, with excellent production by Zeuss, the man behind the mixing desk for Hatebreed and God Forbid.
UM’s Review Rating Scale
7/10- Above average, but not by much
Official Shadows Fall website
Official Century Media website
