Shadows Fall - The Art Of Balance

Shadows Fall
The Art Of Balance
Century Media Records

I had high hopes that Boston’s Shadows Fall would be able to follow up their last album, Of One Blood, with something special. The fact that the same five musicians that come up with Of One Blood and The Art Of Balance is hard to grasp. The progression between the two is unescapable and obvious!

‘Idle Hands’ simply sheds with more than a slight resemblance to the ‘Master Of Puppets’ era Metallica styled riff. You just don’t know how much you miss that crunch until you hear someone else do it. ‘Thoughts Without Words’ is next, and is also the first promotional video for the album. There’s a slight Soilwork influence here, but is given a different slant with the hardcore styled backing vocals.

Brian Fair’s unique and varied vocal sound is evident in the Testament sounding ‘Destroyer Of Senses’, while the short and delicate instrumental ‘Casting Shade’ showcases Jonathan Donais’s and Matthew Bachand’s guitar prowess. There’s an unbelievable intensity in ‘Stepping Outside The Circle’, but title track ‘The Art of Balance’ does just as it suggest and allows the band a breather. There are some razor sharp licks within ‘Mystery Of One Spirit’ and ‘The Idiot box’, while ‘Prelude To Disaster’ again shows the short instrumental genius of the guitarists. ‘A Fire Burns In Babylon’ has plenty of twists and turns, while final track Pink Floyd’s ‘Welcome To The Machine’ is given a complete metal makeover, yet still retains the spirit of the original.

Producer Zeuss (Hatebreed, God Forbid) has given the Shadows Fall another great sounding album, and the band themselves have given us another great slab of hardcore / metal / thrash. This is one band that will surely be around for some time yet.

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© Justin Donnelly.