 |
Shadows Fall: Threads Of Life Metalcore, Thrash Atlantic Records, Roadrunner Records April 2nd, 2007
| ||
|
Review
After having the album The War Within practically crammed down our throats, and the follow-up full length, Fallout From The War, which was comprised of material not good enough to make it on The War Within as well as other b-side material, we find ourselves with yet another album of material that sounds as though it were recorded during the sessions for The War Within. Threads Of Life is Shadows Fall's latest full-length offering with nothing really changed and nothing new offered. Upon the first listen of this album, it was a huge let down, as hopes of something a little fresh on this release were destroyed once "Redemption" kicked in. So, it was time for a break from this band, and after a good amount of time away from the insanity that is Shadows Fall, this CD began to look tempting once again. While this break really helped out, allowing a fresh start for the same recycled material to be brought in, it still didn't lighten the mood that much. The music is pretty much the exact same thing you would find on The War Within, except that the band has stripped down much of the metalcore aspects to their music that could be found there, and tried to focus on a more thrash-oriented sound and keep their mainsteam feel that music has. While this isn't always a bad thing, it makes the album sound very repetative by the track "Stormwinds". There are some really stand out tracks on here that, honestly, are different and kick ass. Take "Falure Of The Devout" for instance. This pure thrash song has some great guitar and drum work, and is much faster then anything the band has done in the past few years. The only thing is the vocal style isn't changed at all since the start of the album and, often, will clash with the music of the track until you become accustomed to it. "Another Hero Lost" is a power ballad, which seems a little out of place considering the music the band plays, and is a rather cheesy sounding ballad. It's not bad, but could have better served the album as a closing track instead of dead center of the album. It's about the time that the rather random acoustic instrumental track "The Great Collapse". While it doesn't really do much for the flow of the album, it is a rather nice, simple acoustic track that breaks up the repetition of the album. The final stand out track on this release would be "Just Another Nightmare", which, really on stands out because of the laughable singing done during the chorus, and a rather good guitar solo about three fourths of the way through. Other then that, it's just another standard song. But, "Forevermore" proves to be a nice closer, as it seems like the band sat down and really concentrated on this song, like "Failure Of The Devout", in all aspects of the music save for the chorus, which just sounds very bland. Threads Of Life is just the same music we've had to deal with the past few years, just with more of a focus on the thrash style, and all but two tracks really feel a little lighter then they should have been. The production on this one, much like the past two full length releases, seems a bit hollow with the guitars, and even some of the drums (listen to the cymbols in the chorus of "Forevermore" and you'll barely be able to hear them), as if they were recorded at a distance. While this isn't the worst album out there, there were some tracks on here that really showed promise and would have made the album amazing if the band sat down and focused on writing more like "Failure Of The Devout" and "Forevermore". The album will be loved by those who couldn't get enough of The War Within, but for the rest of the metal community who isn't obsessed, this album is a bit of a let down, and will yield very few repeat listens.
|
|||
