Customer Reviews

Fangs!

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Falling Up are a Christian Alternative rock quartet and their fourth studio album "Fangs!" is like nothing else on the Christian music scene, a linchpin on the scene. Sounding in part like stuff by REM, Radiohead, or even Prog Rock duo The Mars Volta, theirs is a very experimental, atmospheric sound.

The album apparently revolves about a concept, it is an account and summary of chapters 1-5 from the book "Fangs!" adapted from the original screenplay "Neptuenn's Cavern" by lead vocalist Jessy Ribordy. Here is an excerpt of the story: In a land not unlike our own, a city witnessed a strange occurrence- the cloth that the children slept in was weaved in poison golden thread. If the thread had touched the children's skin for much longer, they would be sure to fall into a deep sleep and never wake up. The city spared no time as they hoped to rid of the threads as soon as possible. In their plans, they tied up the threads in a large shoot and attached one thousand arrows on strings to the end of the shoot. Then, with a thousand of their strongest archers, they shot the poison threads up, up, up towards the nearest planet Neptuenn.

A thousand years later...

Screams in the night- The city wakes to find their poor innocent children stuck deep with sharp golden arrows. All of the children lay silently with great arrows sticking out of their bodies. The people assume there must have been poison on the tips of the arrows and in the cities most desperate attempt to find those responsible for this atrocity, they sent out their most ambitious traveler and drifter to search the land. He is an adventurer, he is the hero. But as his attempts to find any answers while traveling the land had failed, he received word from the city that he must board a space craft at the space station Forum A, located on Eoption Island to blast off to the nearest planet Neptuenn. As the first from his planet to journey to this mysterious Neptuenn, he departs in a zealous quest to search for the answer to this great riddle and find help for the sleeping children.

I know, all that passed way over my head too, so I'll head into the music.

Every track has a haunting, ambient, highly melodic feel, from the opening trio of rockers, the frenetic "A colour Eoptian" (with nice chanted chorus), the bubbly "Lotus and the languorous", and the heavier, fuzzy "Streams Of Woe At Acheron".

The ballad "magician reversed" finds Ribordy's tenor voice soaring effortlessly above an ambient backdrop with sixties-sounding harmonies and a clattery percussion-filled coda. Also dense and ambient is "Golden arrows". "The king's garden" is a more stripped acoustic ballad, with layered harmonies, sounding like something by the Fleet Foxes. "Panic and geo-primaries" is a jangly, echoing ballad with a stunning keyboard/percussion pattern.

This is an album of standouts, really from the ballad "The moonn and sixpence", the Punked up "Goddess of the dayspring, am I" (with a nice chiming guitar break and tempo shifts), the dreamy guitar ballad "The sidewinder flux", the eerie sounding ballad "The chilling Alpine adventure", and the spare tender lullaby-like "Swimming towards propellers" with unsettling sounding strings and swirls. Every instrument, lyric and vocal nuance revolves around this world of fiction and fantasy.

A fantastic and magical musical adventure!

Falling Up returns with their 4th full length album, "Fangs", a mystical concept record telling a story of hope. Years in the works, Falling Up has brought to life a lush musical journey that began as story penned by lead singer Jessy Ribordy. Heros & villains, good and evil, trials and tribulation. "The story of our hero begins as he crash lands into a great sea on this mystic planet called Neptuenn. We follow along on his quest as he embarks to discover the history of the planet, and just like anytime one travels to a distant land, he is shocked to notice just how strange the place that he comes from really is." This album, along with the introduction, is an account and summary of chapters 1-5 from the book "Fangs!" adapted from the original screenplay "Neptuenn's Cavern" by Jessy Ribordy.

This is unlike any Christian release I've ever heard and it is a truly brilliant musical journey. I've enjoyed previous hit songs by Falling Up including "Flights", "Contact", "Exit Calypsan" and "Hotel Aquarium". If you liked those songs, you won't be disappointed with the stand-out songs on "Fangs" which for me are the first 3 songs "The Colour Eoptian", "Lotus And The Langourous" and "Streams Of Woe At Acheron". Those 3 songs set the stage for the concept of the album, which is unique and fictional. The music and Jessy's singing voice blend perfectly with the synth-rock sound of Falling Up, musically more like the "Exit Lights" remix album. I've already listened to the song "Lotus And The Langourous" over a dozen times, and it is my favorite new rock song of the year. There is nothing offensive in the song lyrics although they are obscure. The album reminds me of last year's stand-out album "With Arrows, With Poise" by The Myriad, including more arrow references in "Golden Arrows" and "The Kings Garden", part of a mellow middle section of the album which continues until the rock kicks into high gear with the guitar intro on "The Moon And Sixpence". The album closes with 4 more story songs, including more references to the "golden arrows" in "Goddess of the Dayspring, Am I", and "Swimming Toward Propellers".

If you like praise and worship or lyrics that you can immediately identify with, this album is not for you. If you like alternative rock like The Myriad, Anberlin and Radiohead, then this concept album is for you.

Being relatively new to Falling Up and pretty much stumbling upon this album I find it very interesting and very good. Now, finding out my son listens to them, but really only likes their first release 'Crashings' I can see where I would definitely like 'Fangs' where my son wouldn't. This is an excellent album musically. If you want the same album from any group time after time, then what's the point? One of the things I look for in a group is if they try to change it up from album to album. Falling Up seems to want to do just that. Don't get caught up in the fact that it's based off a screenplay dealing with mythology. Who can't say that they didn't study Greek mythology in school? And while one reviewer claims that "I think it is also important to realize Falling Up doesn't seem to worship God or even mention his word throughout the album, a huge disappointment from a Christian rock band!". My question to that reviewer is "Can't an album just have clean lyrics and great music that Christians can listen to"? Hey - there's a ton of ways to worship God last time I looked. So, because they don't mention God this time around you're ready to throw them and their faith under the bus. What a shame that there's such a narrow point of view on what Christian music should be like. I listen to a lot of bands, mostly secular, and that's one of the biggest drawbacks with the Christian music genre - in a box with no way out. The best music out there is from bands who think out of the box and evolve their sound. I love progressive music so this is probably why I love this album. It reminds me of Ashes Divide, Lunatic Soul, The Pineapple Thief, and Fair to Midland in their approach, but also many others in their willingness to take a chance. Call it dreamy or melancholy, but this album is just a great listen from start to finish. And not having listened to their other albums I feel I have an unbiased opinion on this since I'm not comparing it to their other albums. But, as another reviewer stated, preview it before you buy because if you're expecting another 'Crashings' you will be disappointed.

The complaint most often heard about this album is that it is softer, less rock-oriented, and an extreme departure from Falling Up's earlier albums. Two of these reasons are what I like about it, and I disagree with the other reason.

From the beginning, Falling Up has shown a rare ability to mix rock and progressive sounds. They've been artistic and melodic, but, in some opinions, also hard-edged. For me, the hard edge was a bit forced, and the lead vocals sounded more like Michael W. Smith trying to be in grunge band. I just couldn't get into the music, no matter how hard I tried, and despite the raves of some trusted friends.

On a whim, I picked up a copy of "Fangs!" from the library, my expectations low, my hopes dim. Imagine my surprise when I fell in love with this album on the first listen. Was this the same band? What happened? I popped it back in to listen to again. The hard sounds are still there, but less forced and more integral to the meaning of this musical fantasy/allegory. The lyrics are poetic and thought-provoking. The soundscape provides fitting imagery.

If this is the creativity that was always bubbling under the surface of Falling Up--and I suspect it was--then they have won over a listener who was ambivalent about their earlier work. These "Fangs!" had more bite than expected.

Falling Up never ceases to stop moving forward. Each record has been its own style, almost entirely different from the last. Their diversity may upset some fans of their older sound displayed in Crashings. But inevitably, half a decade later, Falling Up presents us with their next effort, Fangs!.

Fangs! tells a unique story of a planet much like ours where it is discovered that the children slept in blankets weaved from poisonous gold thread. The thread was shot into space, to the nearest planet, Neptuenn, by their strongest archers. A thousand years later, the arrows return, plunging into the children, who have fallen into a deep sleep. A traveler is sent to Neptuenn to investigate what has happened. Fangs! describes his journey, what happens there, and what he observes.

Musically, the album is much like Captiva, still holding some rock quality, but with a lot of electronic sound effects and synths thrown in. Songs such as "Lotus and the Langourous", and "The Moonn and the Sixpence" may please fans of the old Dawn Escapes sound, but anyone interested in solely that style will be disappointed. Other songs such as "The King's Garden" show a much softer side of Falling Up that is, sadly, barely ever heard. The track is the album's most beautiful and relaxed. Fans of the remix album will like most of the songs as many of them sound kind of space-y and electric. So there's pretty much something for everyone, musically, in this album. (As a side note, some of the songs have irratatingly long closings. Some sound really cool, but just seem a bit overdone.)

Lyrically, the album is more like Dawn Escapes, the lyrics more cryptic than, say, "Hotel Aquarium." Under every song in the CD booklet is a small note, telling where the character is going or what he's thinking. Some songs have a small notation such as "Acheron- in Greek Mythology, one of the rivers of Hades," which may help some when trying to understand the story Ribordy is trying to portray. Much of it is unclear, and sadly, does not seem to hold any spiritual meaning at all. Fans familiar with Captiva are sure to notice that the line in the song "Panic and Geo-Primaries", "Breathing in the dark, they're finding where you are" is recycled from "Arch to Achilles" off of Captiva--even accompanied by the same tune as the older song. Whatever the significance, it was interesting that they used it again.

So, in the end, Fangs! may confuse most lyrically, but is enjoyable to listen to. If you're looking for an album with any spiritual meaning, you probably won't find Fangs! to your liking. If you're looking for some good, entertaining music, this will be good for you. In the end there's really only one word to sum up this album: unique. Very well done, but so different--very refreshing. It may require a few listens to get used to the style, but one listen is enough to know that this band is good--the future holds a lot for them.

[This review was written in March of 2009 when "Fangs!" was released. Since then the band has called it quits.]

I find it difficult to describe Falling Up. Fangs! is full of songs that are very catchy but you can never remember them. It's like a dream you really enjoyed; you feel like you'll never forget it and the feeling is always with you, but the memory is fleeting. You can't remember just what it was like, until you fall asleep again and the dream returns. Luckily for me, I can play this album any time I want and reenter the happy dream.

Falling Up has always had an air of oddity about them, but this new album goes the whole way. That's not a bad thing. The album is based off of a rather interesting screenplay which certainly lends itself to the the lyrical interestingness (is that a word?) that Falling Up has always had.

I have enjoyed the sound of Falling Up ever since hearing Moonlit on the radio and this album does not disappoint.
Lotus And The Languorous - love the vocoder
Streams Of Woe At Acheron - extremely hooked on the chorus

I'd go through the whole album, but words fail me. Suffice to say it's great for ambient background or turned up and enjoyed.

This cd was definitely not like any Christian cd I have ever heard. The Lyrics were interesting, and the sound very unique. I love that Falling Up has done something so different from anyone else. If you liked Falling Up's previous releases, then you'll like this one, though it is somewhat more mellow than their previous releases. I love it.

Firstly, I own all of Falling Up's albums, and they are all my favorite (save for the remix albums). FANGS! is a clear lyrical and sonical shift from their earlier albums. Secondly, it is ONE SONG chopped into ear-sized bits. I liken it to Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" (though I don't think that it matches up with the Wizard of Oz...that I know of). Thirdly, this is the sort of album that you don't get singles from (unlike Dark side of the Moon) because it tells a story which only makes sense as a whole. It is whimsical, to be sure, but so long as you don't mind the abstract and frankly sometimes bizarre story that is told, then buckle-up, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

This is the worst of their cds. It is a sci-fi story electronica music.

While it is an interesting change, they overstepped their creativity and made something not as quality as their other releases.

Since they are broken up, I mainly bought this cd since I own the others.

This album is definitely different from a lot of the more mainstream Christian music, and is even different from some of Falling Up's previous stuff. That being said, I think there are definitely some common threads with their previous album, Captiva. I really enjoy a lot of the songs. The story and music is pretty abstract though, and I still don't totally "get" it, but that's part of what I like about it.