Customer Reviews

Of One Blood (Reis)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Night approaches and the darkness creeps upon the unsuspecting denizens of the street, many of which have become lurkers themselves by virtue of the impending blackness that has enveloped them in anonymity. Then, what remnants of light remain generate shadows that fall upon the hopeless, creating eerie distortions of the figures that render prey to the Shadows fall. Pretty deep, huh? Well, that's what amazes me with just one listen to "Of One Blood" by a very promising young act from the east Coast. Shadows Fall are extremely deep, reaching into the wealth of experiences left behind by the metal powerhouses of the 80's, while adding the right amount of newer feel to create a near perfect marraige of melody and mayhem rarely seen by American bands these days. Musically, the band can riff with the same muscle as Exodus, Testament, and Slayer, while providing the same classic twin lead feel of Iron Maiden, while injecting a bit of the new Gothenburg sound ala In Flames and Gardenian ( more so than the more brutal effects of At the Gates or Soilwork). Now, genre classifications aside, let's suffice to say that Shadows Fall are without a doubt, a THRASH band, and that's just fine with me. There will be no artillery like double bass pounding nor blast beat drumming. Only the occassional gutteral vocal will retain the typical death metal stylings, but the delivery of those grunts are quite strategic in adding to the more brutal aspects of the songs. Each song utilizes different riffs and tempos to keep everything intresting and show that metal musicians are extremely talented at their chosen craft.. The changes however, are not detrimental to the overall listening experience like say Meshuggah can tend to be at times, and most of the music is structured into traditional 4/4 beats. Classic thrash drumming throughout provides solid backbone, while vocally, two distinct styles are used: the more low-end growling for heavier parts, and a cleaner, crispier singing for the more refined, melodic areas. Both styles are interwoven throughout and tend to break up the song parts, deterring the possibility of monotony that comes with only one vocal tone. And finally, the lyrics are a brave and applauded departure from much of today's extreme music. (...) In summary, "Of One Blood" is an album that is riff heavy without sounding rehashed, and chock full of expressive guitar leads and memorable melodic hooks. Solid rhythm section work is a given, and vocal delivery is uniquely created by diverse patterns and tones. The band does indeed borrow from a vast base of veteran acts from yesteryear,but who cares? Thrash will ultimately rule again thanks to bands such as Iced Earth, Nevermore, the Haunted, and now newer units as Soilwork and Shadows Fall. This band rises from the darkness and casts a menacing shadow over the huge amount of lesser talented acts that are all jockeying for position in the recent race for metal supremacy. Great things may come for Shadows Fall, and the purchase of their debut "Of One Blood" is mandatory for the serious metalhead, and will be a definite contender for release of the year! Highly recommended!

I never listened to Shadows Fall before, and what a show I saw last night. I started out sitting in the back of the venue when they started playing, but by the end I was right up front. WoW! I admit I still haven't bought the studio album yet, but I heard almost the whole thing live. SF is the best new band I've seen in quite some time. In this modern era of rhythm-based metal, it's refreshing to see a band actually play their guitars in a talented, thoughtful fashion. But the vocals were my highlight. It was pretty balanced among the lead and the two guitarists. Screams, melody, deep growls, harmony, back and forth. Really cool. Overall, it was a well-polished performance. The more they play together and the more they mature as musicians, I can see these guys being up there with some of the best.

On their second record, Shadows Fall began to artfully blend their thrash influences with hard/metalcore. Guitarists Jonathan Donais and Matt Bachand build a wall of bullying, iron-metal riffs and careening solos while vocalist Brian Fail alternates from yelling to deep growling. Even though the guitarists dabble with acoustic guitars (on tracks one, six, and nine), and Brian is capable of singing cleanly and somewhat melodically, the dual guitar attack is explosive enough to make "Of One Blood" one of this Boston quintet's heaviest albums. Jonathan's guitar solos are not very technical, but his and Matt's nimble riffing often brings Metallica's heyday to mind. On most songs, the guitarists seem to be almost competing against each other, and the songs gain density and speed as the riffs build off one another. "Of One Blood" wastes no time getting to the thick of things: "Pain Glass Vision" is very fast, with rapid, propulsive guitar shredding. Tracks four and nine have rocketing rhythms with super speedy, almost blinding guitar noise, and "Fleshold" and "Revel In My Loss" are very catchy, with rhythmic, chugging riffs. My personal favorite song, however, is track six, "Root Bound Apollo," which has several different tempos (including an acoustic guitar breakdown), and a classical sounding solo. The only downside to "Of One Blood" is that it, initially, sounds quite thin and dated. But, fortunately, the further you listen to this album, the less you will be annoyed by the shoddy production. No matter what genre this is, it's a great album from one of the first and best modern thrash/thrashcore bands. If you enjoy the other New Wave of American Heavy Metal groups that have cropped up since Shadows Fall, you will doubtlessly like this C.D. a lot, too.

I know I am a minority on the issue, but this is my favorite Shadows Fall cd. It is just awesome top to bottom. I wish the production was a little better, but the music and vocals are amazing. Great mix of hard metal, and melodic metal. To ashes is an epic song.

Favorites: Of One Blood, Noble Truth, To Ashes.

Casting a dark shadow across the metal landscape and encompassing the realms of hardcore, death, progressive and emo, New England's Shadows Fall strive to refine aggressive music. Of One Blood offers a subtle shading of the strongest qualities of a multitude of metalic sub-genres in a progressive and defining fashion. Shadows Fall showcase dual lead guitars, similiar to traditional American thrash and modern Gothenburg death stylings, complete with harmonized melody lines, chunky galloping rhythms and technical soloing. Pummling double bass paired against the grappling guitar lines move the songs, but it is the transitions between passages that showcases Shadows Fall's stunning musicianship. Building upon the complex instrumentation is the quintet's multi-faceted vocal approach which adds dynamics to the aural assault with combinations of emo-esque clean voices, coarse death growls and hardcore inspired yelps. From Brian Fair's (ex-Overcast) shifty multi-voice lead to the three-way dual-vocal layering layering when guitarist's Jonathan Donais and Matt Bachand lend their lungs, Shadows Fall offer colouration coenciding with their the lyrcial emotion. Introspecitive thoughts are translated beyond words deliver haunting tales of personal reflection through the multitude of vocal articulations while the rest of the music paints its own interpretation. The interplay between the voices and instruments offers further inspiration for the strong content of the words. One would expect those elements alone to propel a band's music in and of itself, but Shadows Fall refuse to stop there. Their overall songwriting is undulating in form, flowing between styles effortlessly and encompassing fully a multitude of dynamic and progressive ideas. Beautiful acoustic passages are offset by soaring guitar solos which melt into hammering hardcore-esque breakdowns and bleed subtly back into the origins of the song. The vast pallet from which Shadows Fall draw their musical expression from is more than adequite to make up for the somewhat thin production that can be felt at times on the CD. Once witnessed live, however, the depth of the band is pumped vigerously through the soul, fully overcoming any recording studio budget shortcomings one might feel exist. Shadows Fall cast down a new definition of metalic style by setting an intimidating standard which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that all aggressive music is truly born Of One Blood.

How dare you disrespect Shadows Fall! I know what kind of crap you listen to, Crossdressing Poser!

This disc is an underrated classic from Shadows Fall. It sounds different from "The Art Of Balance" and "The War Within". "Of One Blood" is possibly one of my favorite Shadows Fall tracks, and "The First Noble Truth" is another stand out track. This album is pure gold, just like the last two albums. Recommended for someone who likes any type of metal.

This was my first Shadow's Fall record. My buddy saw them live around 2001 with a bunch of other bands and dug the live set but wasn't as into the record so he passed it on to me and I've been a huge fan ever since. I really like the mixing of gallops and breakdowns and screaming and singing. The changes, the drumwork, the energy..this band is just plain top notch. Lately it seems as if they've begun to sound the same a lot of the time which saddens me a little even though all of their records crush. Anyway I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, not just metal. Anything from Johnny Cash to NWA. In terms of metal I really like Slayer (mid 80s to early 90s), Tool, Pantera, Down, Helmet ( list goes on). This has to be in my top three all time metal records and I (being the dolt that I am) doubted that such an already classic record could be improved much because the original is less than 10 years old even though their newer records all sound pristine compared to this one. It's not like they recorded it on two track or anything. THE DIFFERENCE IS NIGHT AND DAY. Believe me when I tell you that if you love the original version of this record that the new one will flat out drop you.

Shadows Fall have an excellent formula, I mean they can do everything a real metal band does, From bone crunching thrash to soothing melody. Brian Fair's voice can range from ferocious growls and screams to awesome clean singing. There's also some excellent guitar riffing and soloing, and some heart pounding double bass drum patterns that will make your jaw drop in delight. Great album, also get The Art Of Balance and be sure to pick up their new album The War Within coming out on Sept.21st. Happy Headbanging!

OF One Blood was the second release from Shadows Fall and also the second album I got from this Massuchusetts based band. I do prefer this album over The Art of Balance because it's a more raw sound and it also has my favorite Shadows Fall song ever: To Ashes. Stand-out tracks are First Noble Truth, Fleshold, and of course To Ashes. The lyrics on this album have more depth and a more personal feel to them than on TAOB. Just read the lyrics to Fleshold and To Ashes and you'll see what I'm talking about. So pick up this album and The Art of Balance. Also keep an eye out for their new album that comes out sometime in September.

Shadows Fall's second release, OF ONE BLOOD, was my introduction to them, and is the perfect starting place for anyone getting into them. It is their first album to feature current vocalist Brian Fair, who was an excellent replacement for original singer Phil Labonte, who was more of a straight-out death metal vocalist. Fair has quite a range in his pipes, from a hard-edged snarl, to clean, smooth singing. He helps establish the band's sound, which is something of a blend between Swedish melodic death metal (a la In Flames, Arch Enemy, and Soilwork) and '80's thrash.

We have the longtime duo of Matthew Bachand and Jonathan Donais on guitars...I swear, these guys have such a fierce yet harmonious chemistry reminiscent of Iron Maiden and Megadeth. Bachand is a monster of a rhythm player, with a wrist that simply SLASHES at his strings with uncanny speed. Donais is one of my favorite new guitarists. Just as good a rhythm guitarist as Bachand, he can do the whole score of leads and hooks throughout each song, and unreal speed and virtuosity in his solos. What guitarists!

Paul Romanko is a fair bassist; he doesn't do anything that makes him particularly stand out, but he keeps up with Bachand and Donais' speeds and constant time changes with ease. All in all, a talented bassist.

David Germain is a very good drummer. Extremely fast, with plenty of snare and double-kick pedaling throughout each song. This would be his second (and last) album with the band, before he was replaced by equally talented Jason Bittner.

I normally try to avoid picking favorite songs, but these three simply stand out like none of the others. Don't get me wrong, this is one of those albums I can sit down and listen to in its entirety, but it's not like Soilwork's NATURAL BORN CHAOS, where every song is a favorite. However, there are several songs which stand out head and shoulders above the rest, and I shall discuss them next.

"Crushing Belial" is a hefty slab of heavy metal. It's fairly straightforward thrash with the semi-death-metal vocals, but then there's the bridge, where all the heavy sound suddenly vanishes, and we have an acoustic guitar being slowly fingerpicked before icy keyboards seep in, and a chilling electric lead spills onto it. The heaviness returns but in the same pace, and then the song picks up speed again.

"Fleshold" has such an infectious riff in the verses, and even without a guitar solo in the bridge, it rocks. I'm especially fond of the drum- and guitar-pre-verses. One of the best thrashcore songs I've ever heard.

As well, "Root Bound Apollo" is quite unique. Starting off with a fairly straightforward metal sound, it soon gets sweeping keyboards adding to the melody...and then acoustic and clean-electric guitars fill in the remainder before the metal resurfaces. Hell, the whole song is blended with moments of melody and tranquility, very reminiscent of Opeth and Dark Tranquillity. A superb song.

"To Ashes" also features an acoustic guitar interlude, with clean vocals and slower pacing...simply splendid.

And then there's "Montauk" - possibly my favorite song on the whole album. It medium-paced at first, then the guitars are harmonized for an atmospheric intro to the otherwise fast and thrashy, worthy of much headbanging, but then the bridge comes...there's a brief bass lead, then the guitars make a duel reminiscent of a snake rearing its head for a strike...and WOOSH! The solo kicks in, lasting a beautiful 40 seconds...but damned if it doesn't seem longer. Oh my GOD! It simply sizzles and sears. The scale that builds up in the second half of the solo renders the listener helpless...WE'RE NOT WORTHY! This is the ultimate shredder song on the album...just because of that damn solo.

On a separate note, I saw the band perform at Ozzfest '03, along with fellow Massachusetts (yay!) thrashcore band Killswitch Engage, and let me tell you they ROCKED. They also filmed a video to one of their songs there, to appear on MTV at some point (but I'm not sure which song, offhand). Finally, I got to meet them after the show was over. They are a bunch of really nice guys that are very pleased to be getting their much-deserved attention and hype.

So here it is: Shadows Fall, at their very prime on the album that found them reaching perfection. Enjoy it and worship them!