Review: Shadows Fall - Fire From the Sky

Band: Shadows Fall
Album: Fire From the Sky
Year: 2012
Genre: Melodic Death/Thrash Metal
Country: USA

I have followed the career of Shadows Fall since I first heard The Art of Balance. I then went back and listened to their first two albums which were far more in the realm of melodic death metal and went forwards into the more melodic death and thrash/groove albums. While I wasn't too impressed with The War Within and hardly even touched Threads of Life, Retribution had everything I loved about the band in it. I am happy to say that SF continue in the direction of Retribution with Fire From the Sky.

One of the first big things I noticed was the improvement in use of clean vocals. The majority of the time Matthew Bachand and Jonathan Danais provide the cleans and do a fantastic job. In fact they seem to be given the main focus when it comes to actual singing which I am perfectly ok with. Listen to the strong choruses offered by The Unknown or Save Your Soul. Brian Fair provides his one of a kind hardcore like shouts with the same ferocity that he did on Retribution. Some people seem to not like Brian's style but I quite enjoy it. Its like a brand, as soon as you hear his screams you know exactly who you are listening to.

The guitar duo of Bachand and Donais is just as strong ever. FFtS contains really strong riffing like most of the band's back catalog. Its kind of hard to place the style the band plays based on the guitar riffs played. There are the groovy thrash riffs that are almost always present but the killer guitar harmonies used by most melodic death bands is also heavily used. Its safe to say the guitar parts straddle the line between melodic death and mid paced thrash which makes for a very melody driven sound. The solos are pretty great too. They carry a very 80s type of style to them, they are pretty showy at times though I wouldn't say they go into wank territory.

I love the drumming of Jason Bittner. Listen to the first 20 seconds of Fire From the Sky, or the blasts on Weight of the World. The guy knows what he is doing and the drumming is just as fun to listen to as the riffing. Unfortunately I cannot hear the bass of Paul Romanko. It seems like the bass has sort of been buried somewhere in the mix. As always it would be so much better if it played a stronger part in the music than it usually does.

Fire From the Sky successfully replicates the heaviness of Retribution while including a little more melody than that album. Any fan of the band should be happy with what FFtS offers. There are strong melodies, great soloing, and the cleans sound even better than they have in the past. I've easily given this album more listens than I usually do for a review and its simply because its all around just a really great release.

Score: 9/10
Standout Tracks: Save Your Soul, The Unknown, Fire From the Sky, The Wasteland

Review: Entrenched - Preemptive Strike

Band: Entrenched
Album: Preemptive Strike
Year: 2011
Country: USA
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal

I love war themed metal, especially in the death metal genre. I mean what is more in line with death metal than to growl your guts out about mass destruction and hot hunks of metal tearing people to pieces? Entrenched play death/thrash with a heavy war theme like Bolt Thrower, or Hail of Bullets.

While listening to Preemptive Strike I first noticed the vocals. There is a high pitched rasp and a low death growl that remind me heavily of Bill Steer and Jeff Walker's older work in Carcass. Needless to say being a big fan of Carcass I love what Sean Fitzpatrick and Charles Snyder are doing here. Its a complete throwback and with the thrash thrown in it also makes me think of Ghoul.

Death/thrash can be a lot of fun and when you play the first song (Intro (Mobilized)) you know exactly what you're getting. The riffs are often very groovy and are all rather pleasing to the ear. Landbrecher 666 is especially good and it bleeds right into Frenzied Amputation, another good track. The solos on the album are also pretty cool. What they lack in technicality they make up for in quality.

I really enjoy the production here as well. Unlike a lot of the modern thrash bands who prefer to thin out the guitars to make it sound like they were recorded in the 80s Entrenched went with a meaty thicker sound and it fits the theme and style. There are also a few sound bytes thrown in to some of the songs for good measure and its done well. The intro to ICBM has a piece of what sounds like an old documentary or something recounting how fragile the human body is when it comes to the different ways a nuclear bomb can kill you.

Preemptive Strike is a good (not great) album that people who like bands like Bolt Thrower, Warbringer, or HoB will enjoy. Its some good punishing death/thrash with excellent vocals and I hope to hear more from them in the future.

Score: 7/10
Standout Tracks: Landbrecher 666, Frenzied Amputation

Metal Reviews: Astrum - Shadows of the Past

Band: Astrum
Album: Shadows of the Past
Year: 2010
Genre: Punk/Thrash

Astrum is extremely low-fi. In fact the band probably puts most others to shame, y'know those black metal bands who purposely use bad production to make the music sound more raw? If there was a contest to see who could make the rawest most primitive production Astrum would win.

Ok so the production is very black metal, the vocals are punk(ish) and the music itself is also pretty punky. Lets be honest, the riffs don't sound all that different throughout the album but every song still has me bobbing my head to the riffs. Especially with Mighty Swords of Thunder, the main riff is just catchy. Astrum write riffs that usually sound the same and are quite simple but they have a charm to them that makes it a little enjoyable. Its funny the production sounds better on some songs than others, Out of the Fog has a better guitar sound than some of the other songs but it is overall pretty fuzzy sounding.

And the drumming is usually pretty simply played as well which kind of fits with what the rest of the band is doing. The mixing is a little off as well, the drums are quite a ways back in the mix and there is little to no bass that is noticeable. For the drums a song where they actually pop out at times higher into the mix is the last song Victory of Doom. The drummer also has a little trouble keeping time with the guitars. Some songs it just seems like he is playing too quickly like in Nocturnal Damnation while in Mighty Swords of Thunder they feel too slow.

There are some keys or electronic effects thrown in on On Starless Night and it gives off almost an old school horror film vibe. Once again the riffs within this song are nothing special but they are nice addition to the song that adds atmosphere.

This album sounds muddy, dirty, and the mixing isn't really the best. The musicianship is also lacking as well. There are solos but considering what I usually listen to I'm not really impressed. Even still, like I said earlier, Shadows of the Past has some charm to it that doesn't make it a total let down. The riffs while simple are catchy enough and the vocals probably wont offend anyone. If you are into primitive punk/thrash with black metal tendencies in the production this is for you, if that doesn't sound appealing I would probably move on to something else. Wanting a raw sound is perfectly fine, but when it actually takes away from the music it stops being a pro and becomes a con which will be the case here for most people.

Score: 5/10
Standout Track: On Starless Night

Well...

I guess I could get to blogging, my thoughts on current/old school metal and different things in the world of extreme metal.

I got some stuff in the mail at the moment:

Skeletonwitch - Beyond the Permafrost
Hail of Bullets - ...Of Frost and War
Thine Eyes Bleed - Separation (I think that was it, maybe it was their other album)
The Crown - Crowned In Terror

I'm excited for some Skeletonwitch since I've recently become interested in Blackened Thrash and I've heard good things about the band. With The Crown, well its got Tomas Lindberg on vocals what else can I say?! Thine Eyes Bleed is supposed to be in the same vein as The Crown as thrashy Melodeath and its got Tom Araya's brother on bass. Hail of Bullets seems to be the spiritual successor to Bolt Thrower in some ways so I just had to check it out! Can't wait for them to get here so I can get some listens in!