Shadows Fall
Fire From The Sky

July 2012
Released: 2012, Razor and Tie Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

Now that the metalcore craze has finally died away to a dull roar, there are few bands that are still around and making worthwhile albums. One of those is Shadows Fall, and it’s fitting that they are since they were one of the progenitors of the genre, and were always one of the best in an admittedly limited field.



So here we are in 2012, with the band’s 7th full length album, and it’s pretty much exactly what you would expect. For better or worse, FIRE FROM THE SKY is another Shadows Fall album, and if you’ve heard the band at all over the last decade, you know precisely what that entails. Brian Fair is still doing his gruff lead vocals over top of Bachand and Donais’ delicious guitars, propelled forward by Bittner’s masterful drumming. The music is still jammed with whisper to roar dynamics, breakdowns, and growled verses transitioning to cleanly sung choruses. Whether that still turns your crank is obviously up to you, but Shadows Fall have been doing this for long enough now that they don’t make mistakes.



That’s really all I need to say about this album. It’s another in an unbroken line of solid albums from this band, and if you’re a fan, you have no reason not to check it out. It would have been cool if the band had come out with some new twists and turns to their formula, but they are obviously comfortable with what they’re doing. So, although detractors won’t be converted, for fans, this is probably the safest purchase of the year.