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Once again I've been thrown back to the glorious times in front of festival stages and once again with a musical style that I haven't been following lately. Not that I thought this genre was extinct, none of them die out, but I've been listening to other stuff in the last decade or. So I'm quite glad this album reached my inbox. If feels good to once again dwell in the beautiful realms of female fronted melodic metal, or, as some people will always say, gothic metal.
Sense Of Fall was formed in 2008 but suffered numerous line-up changes before the band was finally complete in 2012. A year later these Fins released a first e.p., 'Unchain'. Now they're back with 'Fallen Statues', an e.p. about greed, lies and the lust of power. The album is filled with brutal riffs and a surprisingly wide array of clean vocals, screams and death growls, truly reminding me of the early days and bands like After Forever and Epica (right before Nightwish ruined the genre for me).
What strikes me most about the music on 'Falles Statues' is the sheer number of incfluences incorporated in the songs. For the main part you can indeed classify this under 'gothic metal', especially with the continuous alteration between clean vocals and death growls, but I can clearly hear elements from death and black metal, as well as progressive rock and old school thrash metal. So it can't hurt to mention bands like Children Of Bodom and Evergrey in this review.
The album opens with 'Misantropy', which is a very strong song and carries a vintage gothic metal atmosphere. The deep voice of Anni fits perfectly with the powerful music, enhancing the touch of mystery. These are not 'angelic voices', these are powerful, highly convincing vocals with a lot of variation. 'Fallen Statues' follows a similar path but suddenly evolves into a furious death metal track, at times reaching a blast-beats driven climax. That being said, I really do want to give my compliments to the drummer. He's good. He's damn good.
The level of songwriting and musical crafstmanship are immense. Sense Of Fall knows exactly how much variation is needed to keep the music enjoyable for the entire duration. Continuous changes in tempo and alternation between melody and brute force make 'Fallen Statues' a brilliant album. 'What Lies Beneath Lies' is my favourite track, reminding me even of old school gothic rock, especially with the bizarre vocals at the end. These creepy voices are just one of many surprising elements on this album.
So there you have it, a pretty long review for an e.p. but hey, it's a stunning one. Like I do in many reviews I'd like to end this one by looking forward to a live performance. If Sense Of Fall is as convincing on stage as on this album, they might be on their way to the big festivals like Graspop, WGT, Wacken and Summerbreeze.
Serge
Sense Of Fall was formed in 2008 but suffered numerous line-up changes before the band was finally complete in 2012. A year later these Fins released a first e.p., 'Unchain'. Now they're back with 'Fallen Statues', an e.p. about greed, lies and the lust of power. The album is filled with brutal riffs and a surprisingly wide array of clean vocals, screams and death growls, truly reminding me of the early days and bands like After Forever and Epica (right before Nightwish ruined the genre for me).
What strikes me most about the music on 'Falles Statues' is the sheer number of incfluences incorporated in the songs. For the main part you can indeed classify this under 'gothic metal', especially with the continuous alteration between clean vocals and death growls, but I can clearly hear elements from death and black metal, as well as progressive rock and old school thrash metal. So it can't hurt to mention bands like Children Of Bodom and Evergrey in this review.
The album opens with 'Misantropy', which is a very strong song and carries a vintage gothic metal atmosphere. The deep voice of Anni fits perfectly with the powerful music, enhancing the touch of mystery. These are not 'angelic voices', these are powerful, highly convincing vocals with a lot of variation. 'Fallen Statues' follows a similar path but suddenly evolves into a furious death metal track, at times reaching a blast-beats driven climax. That being said, I really do want to give my compliments to the drummer. He's good. He's damn good.
The level of songwriting and musical crafstmanship are immense. Sense Of Fall knows exactly how much variation is needed to keep the music enjoyable for the entire duration. Continuous changes in tempo and alternation between melody and brute force make 'Fallen Statues' a brilliant album. 'What Lies Beneath Lies' is my favourite track, reminding me even of old school gothic rock, especially with the bizarre vocals at the end. These creepy voices are just one of many surprising elements on this album.
So there you have it, a pretty long review for an e.p. but hey, it's a stunning one. Like I do in many reviews I'd like to end this one by looking forward to a live performance. If Sense Of Fall is as convincing on stage as on this album, they might be on their way to the big festivals like Graspop, WGT, Wacken and Summerbreeze.
Serge