The Empire Shall Fall – Awaken
Genres: Metalcore, Thrash
Label: Independent
I’m beginning to think that the whiny Bullet for my Valentine metalcore may be dead. Because although this album is definitely mostly ‘core, it ain’t whiny in the least. In fact, it’s thrashy as hell, which is probably one of the least whiney metal genres out there.
I’ll be honest, I know nothing of this band, and that kind of adds to my enjoyment. Listening to this album is like opening presents on Christmas; you don’t know what you’re going to get, and if you have cool relatives, you don’t even know what you should expect. The Empire Shall Fall are those cool relatives. They’re dropping thrash riffs with metalcore breakdowns and deathy vocals right beside some very powerful singing. Instrument-wise, this band knows their shit. They’ve obviously been playing for awhile and have diverse influences, shown in the raw speed and technicality of some of the songs, but also in the fact that they can use tech elements with traditional elements and make it work. They can write SONGS, not riff tapes with vocals, which is a breath of fresh air.
Just found out, right before I’m posting this, that Jesse Leach is the vocalist (would explain the familiarity). If you don’t know who that is, you need a fucking history lesson.
Favourite tracks are “Lords of War”, “Voices Forming Weapons”, and the title track.
8 out of 10.
The Empire Shall Fall on MySpace.