Customer Reviews

The Art of Balance

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Being a big fan of emo/screamo/indie bands, I was really disappointed with this album. Why, you ask? Well, for starters, they actually had SOLOS on this CD. Can you believe it? Also, they DIDN'T have somebody singing with a whiny voice! I would have liked it a lot more if it had more screaming on it! This whole CD is full of fake metal! This......
Sorry, I had to stop there(I couldn't stop myself from laughing). Truthfully, I wrote that first part to make fun of all the individuals who try to downplay this CD. I'd like to "clear the air" about this so-called, "poser-metal" group. I'll almost certainly make enemies with what I am going to say, but I also know that there are some who will agree whole-heartedly with my sentiments about this album. You've been warned!
After listening to this album a great many of times, I can tell you that this release is nothing short of magnificent. Sure, it's not as heavy musically as bands such as Arch Enemy, In Flames, or Soilwork(three of my favorite bands by the way), but it has its own unique metal flavor. I'm not much into labeling what a band's style of metal is(be it thrash, metalcore, goth, etc.), but I do know this: this album is METAL all the way.
The vocals of Brian Fair are easy to digest on this album, and while he is not too harsh, neither is he too soft. Regardless of how he sings on each song, the words are very easy to hear and understand. The actual lyrics themselves are full of intelligent thoughts, musings, and reflections on life itself, as well as the possible effects it can have on a person.
The musicianship on this release is also top-notch. The two guitarists, Matt and Jon, work very well with each other, with Jon handling the leads and Matt doing a good job in keeping the rhythm going. Jon displays a staggering amount of skill and musical prowess on all of his solos. My favorite solo of his would have to be the one in "Stepping Outside The Circle". Like just about every solo he does, it is full of deep emotion. Other excellent solos are found in "The Art Of Balance" and "A Fire Burns In Babylon".
This album also features two beautiful acoustic instrumentals, "Casting Shade" and "Prelude To Disaster". "Casting Shade" is a nice all-acoustic piece with both of the acoustics playing in harmonic bliss, while "Prelude To Disaster" starts out with the acoustic playing a haunting, yet beautiful chord progression, builds up with an electric guitar solo full of emotion, and ends with the same beauty that it started with, all while the sound of a crackling fire is heard in the background.
In closing, this Shadows Fall masterpiece is filled to the brim with excellent songs. I like all the songs except for "Idle Hands" and "The Idiot Box". Suffice it to say, if "Destroyer of Senses" and "Thoughts Without Words" are the only songs you've heard from this CD, then you'll be in for a real treat indeed. To those of you who have trashed this album, I'm afraid you have no idea whatsoever of what true talent really is. Your pathetic, talent-devoid bands such as Atreyu, Otep, System of a Down, My Chemical Romance, and all the others(believe me, I'm barely scratching the surface of all these horrible bands) can't even come close to the amount of talent Shadows Fall has. Something else to think about is this: Even with all their talent, I've NEVER seen any of the guys in Shadows Fall do the stupid things that the other bands do, like twirling their guitars around or jumping around like complete morons. Instead, you see them very humbly playing their instruments. Even if Jon is doing one of his leads, he almost never looks up from his guitar, which shows that he is more intent on focusing on the music rather than trying to be a show-off. That's just another reason why I like and respect this band.
The next time you want to bring an album like this down, remember to do your homework. I don't put any value in someone else's review unless it is intelligent and well-grounded, so the next time you think that 'real' metal is all about screaming vocals, guitars tuned so low that they sound like a bass, or the cute little finger tapping solos, then think again. This is NOT what metal is all about, nor will it EVER be.

Shadows Fall is a band that was brought to my attention by my smaller brother, who saw them live at a Children Of Bodom concert in London. You see, I'm really into heavy metal, especially into the European Metal Scene with of course bands such as Arch Enemy, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Children Of Bodom, Soilwork... I can go on forever (Check my listmania out to find out about my favourite european bands). Anyways, when I found out that an American band was playing a style of metal that was previously only found in europe, I had to check them out. I now own all their releases and have fallen in love with this talented band.

Shadows Fall's style of playing is close to other american bands such as Lamb Of God, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Hatebreed, Darkest Hour, etc. However, they distinguish themselves by putting more emphasis on melody and guitar solos. I cannot understand why american metal bands have pushed aside solos. Anyways, about the album, the band also combines clean vocals with heavy screams, which in this style of music is always a winning combination. However it is the guitar leads and harmonies that force me to put them in a category of their own in American Metal.

The Art Of Balance I believe is better than Of One Blood, even though both releases are outstanding. I will go through each song and try to tell you people what is so outstanding about them

"Idle Hands" - the opener of the album is an excellent song. The agression can already be felt by this track however it is not the heaviest song here by any means. You can hear the melodic riffs 45 seconds into the song laying the background for the chorous. Overall a brilliant track 9/10

"Thoughts Without Words" - A very agressive track, I love the scales played that stand between the verses and choruses. A very powerful chorus which grows on me every time I hear it and an "overwhelming desire to react" takes over and I usually break stuff in my room. I must mention that the solo in this song is amazing. 8.5/10

"Destroyer of Senses" - Probably the most brutal track in this album, I am always amazed at the guitar work, these guys are very talented musicians. The bridge slows down the song a bit but only to have Brian's growls take over. Brilliant overall song. 8.5/10

"Casting Shade" - A short instrumental which reminds us that we are dealing with people that can play and don't just make noise. vote: n/a

"Stepping Outside The Circle" - This is my favourite track in the album. What a song. It posses the best chorus, a cross between hardcore with brutal metal, of course the beautiful melodic bridge followed by another amazing solo. What more do you want in a song. 10/10

"The Art Of Balance" - This song has a slower rythm and because of that it takes us to another level were the listeners are subdued to beautiful melodies and relaxing verses only to find their souls filled with rage and strength in the chorus. The guitar work is again brilliant. A true masterpiece of a song. 10/10

"Mystery Of One Spirit" - By this point you might be wandering were the filler songs in this album are, well this song is not it, in facts we don't have fillers in this album. This song is another powerfull song with amazing guitar work. The seems to be interupted in the middle by an acoustic bridge and then the solos enter backed by a majestic rhythm. very good song. 8/10

"The Idiot Box" - Very aggressive from the beginning however, a song that is weaker than what we have heard so far. The choruses are the problem, the singing slows down the song too much. The guitars here are still at the same level on the previous tracks, with an amazing solo. 6/10

"Prelude To Disaster" - The second short acoustic instrumental in this album. It is a slow piece that I believe serves to relax the listener and rest. The harmonies created are beautiful. vote: n/a

"A Fire In Babylon" - WOW, what an intro. I wish I could write such a piece of music. Here the skill of the guitarists is really evident. Very good song. 8.5/10

"Welcome To The Machine" - To tell you the truth this album does not need this song. It doesn't need it to make the album better, nor does it need it to make the band more popular. However this version of the song (Which is so much better than the original) is played in a very heavy style that fits with the other songs on this album. I prefer their original work by a landslide though. Maybe they wanted more variation on this release, in that case I'll give it 8/10

In other words, buy this album or never truelly live.

This is without a doubt the MUST HAVE album of metal for the past few years. This is what metal has been missing. It is aggresive, with awesome riffs, and SOLOS! Plus it is extremely catchy, and just one of the most insane sounds you can imagine.

Shadows Fall basically took a style that was being used by several European metal bands and expanded upon it. This album shows emotion on so many levels, and is a pure display of TALENT! It has thrash on it...Stepping Outside the Circle is an 80's thrash fans dream to hear today. But it also has pounding anthems like Destroyer of Senses, epic feeling songs like The Art of Balance, and a KILLER rendition of Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine. There isn't much more you could ask for.

What are you reading this for still? GET THE CD!

This is a good, solid, headbanging album thats perfect for the weekend when your picking up your friends and going out to party. Reminds me of my early days popping in Testament's Souls of Black or Megadeth's Peace Sells albums. Overall good albums but not GREAT, which is why I gave it 3 stars. Shadows Fall's songs are good refreshing metal, but theres nothing on this album that reaches out and ingrains itself in your head. Don't get me wrong this album doesn't suck but it seems more like a stepping stone for Shadows Fall to become something really great. If they stay together they could accomplish a GREAT album instead of a GOOD album, which is what The Art of Balance is.....A GOOD album...Not Great. 3 stars

Once upon a time there was a band named Metallica who found inspiration in the NWOBHM and created a new genre, becoming legends in the process. Ever since they forgot what they learned and began writing for radio, fans and critics alike have hoped for Metallica's second coming. Not only have they arrived in my opinion, but they've been here for years. They are called Shadows Fall and the albums that have made a believer out of me are Of One Blood and their latest, The Art Of Balance.

"Idle Hands", the galloping mid-tempo mauler of an opener, instantly made it clear to me just how important this band can and should become. As with Metallica's early work, the magic and efficiency of the NWOBHM can be heard, but instead of filtering it through Motorhead, Shadows Fall burn it to a blackened crisp. The Art Of Balance is a Rainbow Bridge that links the metal of the early 80's to the metal of the 90's and beyond. "Mystery Of One Spirit" which plays In Flames' hand only to trump them by invoking Iron Maiden and Accept halfway through, exemplifies this band's mission.

New classics jump out from around nearly every corner. "Thoughts Without Words" absorbs the infectious, funky misery of Down towards the middle and expunges it via the cold machinery of Meshuggah. "Destroyer Of Senses" absolutely shatters with its nasty, reverberating riffage, and the stirring penultimate track "A Fire In Babylon" succeeds as a philosophical and timely epic that Rush might have thought of had they formed in Britain circa 1980.

However, The Art Of Balance is a slightly flawed gem to me. I would have preferred the songs to be entirely done with the clean vocals which recall James Hetfield. The rough vocals don't really detract much, but I get the vague feeling the record would have levelled the joint even more without them. I also felt that the reworked version of "Stepping Outside The Circle" was ever so slightly inferior to the version found on the band's Deadworld EP. One other minor problem I had was with the band's merely serviceable cover of Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine". I would have preferred and expected a band as inspired as Shadows Fall to pay homage to their fiercely metallic roots instead of remaking a song which has been well worn by rock radio.

But those missteps aside, I am thoroughly enjoying The Art Of Balance for its craftsmanship, its intelligent songwriting, its marvelous guitar work, its thoughtful lyrics, its modern yet vintage riffery, and for the fact that it truly lives up to its title. Crusades have begun with lesser works than these. Here's hoping that Shadows Fall never stray from the path.

Very few times in history can it be said that a few bands in music saved an entire genre of music. This, I believe, is one of those times. Shadows Fall along with bands like Mastedon, As I Lay Dying, and Chimaira are only support structures left to hold up the genre of metal/heavy metal, Shadows Fall being at the forefront. Which leads us to their incredible album "The Art of Balance."

For starters, the album title is a perfect fit to this solid piece of music. The band balances perfectly elemets of metal ("Idle Hands"), heavy metal ("Mystery of the Spirit"), hard core ("Destroyer of Senses") and a dash of punk ("Stepping Outside the Circle") into its mold. But, it balances those elements out with beautiful instrumentals to act as breaks in the brutality ("Casting Shade," "Prelude to Disaster").

Another great thing about this album that I think many, many bands should follow is the number of songs on this album. There's only 11 which is a very good thing. Too many albums today suffer from way too many good songs and not great songs- case in point, Damage Plan's "New Found Power." There's only 9 songs which have lyrics (one of which was written by Pink Floyd- I'll get to that). Putting only 11 songs on an album shows faith in listeners that the songs chosen are choice cuts and the album only requires those to be good.

Yes, as mentioned, there is a Pink Floyd Cover. "Welcome to the Machine" is an interesting interpretation. Shadows Fall take the haunting original and update it with metallic edges that work beautifully with the original lyrics.

Finally, the lyrics actually deal with real life issues that listeners can relate to, which makes for great wordplay and word choice. Examples: "Stepping Outside The Circle" discusses the the dangers of pointless love circles and the I hate you, I love you, I hate you, I love you mentality; "Destroyer of Senses" obviously talks about what happens with alcohol abuse and the effects afterward.

All this with some amazing shredding by lead guitarist Jonathan Donais and you have yourself one hell of an album. Keep up the spectacular work, guys!

This album is just incredible, Shadows Fall combine so many different styles of metal all into one amazing mix. I would describe the Shadows Fall sound like this: a combination of 80's thrash metal, Gothenburg melodic death metal, hardcore, and a little regular death metal thrown in. Basically it sounds like a mix of old Metallica, In Flames, Hatebreed, and a little Cannibal Corpse all thrown into one. Although that may sound like it wouldn't work, it does, and it works extremely well. This album kick off with a riff that you could swear would fit in right with Metallica's "Ride The Lightning", and then the singer starts growling and you know this is no Metallica clone. All the songs on this album have lyrics that would fit in with your average "hardcore" band which is why I think Shadows Fall still keeps the metalcore tag (metal mixed with hardcore). However, this band's fast guitar riffs, screamed/growled vocals, melodic vocals, and blistering fast guitar solos give this so much more dimension than a band like Throwdown or Poison the Well. With a band like Throwdown, an entire song is built around a breakdown. With Shadows Fall, we get an entire 4 minute song complete with solos and sung choruses, and THEN we get the breakdown. And believe me, a breakdown sounds MUCH better when their is an actual song in it. Anyways, if you like metalcore, hardcore, thrash metal, melodic death metal, or even if you like regular death metal I would suggest you at least try this out. This is also HIGHLY recommended for fans of Killswitch Engage or Hatebreed.

Here I am, continuing my exposure to extreme metal, and finally I am surprised by a group. I listened to "Perseverance" by Hatebreed, and thought all the songs sounded too much alike with little variation in style. Meshuggah's CD "Nothing" was better because I thought the music was very complex, but I struggled with the singing. It would seem to me that singing like this is a great way to ruin your vocal chords.

This CD surprised me for multiple reasons. First, though the yelling/singing or whatever you want to call it is there, this group plays music very well. When they aren't singing they can bang out a tune really well. But the real shocker here was the last track, a cover of Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine". With my stereo turned down low I thought at first that some how a Pink Floyd song had crept onto this CD. Once I turned the sound up, I realized that it was Shadows Fall doing an absolutely excellent cover of a Pink Floyd song.

The other tracks that blow me away are the instrumentals "Casting Shade" and "Prelude to Disaster". For those fans of thrash or death metal, these songs are as uncharacteristic as Black Sabbath's "Laguna Sunrise". Complain as much as you want, Shadows Fall would have a great career as a mainstream band if they played music like this all the time. "Casting Shade" particularly will evoke images of streams in woods in Medieval times, and you might almost think you are listening to a progressive rock group. I could eliminate all but tracks 4, 9 and 11 and walk away a happy camper.

You may call this group a sellout to extreme metal, but when they want to they can create the most incredibly beautiful music. Four stars for have the bravery to challenge thrash metal fans to listen to music milder than the usual screaming about pain, anger, hate and self-loathing. Rock music was always about doing your own thing, not always kowtowing to grumpy fans that think a particular group should always sound the same.

...right along with bands like Lamb of God, Chimaira, and others who are keeping metal alive and bringing it to a new generation of willing listeners. I hear they're tearing up Ozzfest and are well on their way to establishing their arrival. If you haven't heard of Shadows Fall then where the hell have you been? You're looking at the future in this band, pure and simple.

I will start off by noting that the production on this record is killer. Every guitar shred, every double-bass fill, every snare hit, every pounding bass line, and every gutteral growl or primal scream from Brian Fair just destroys you. This stuff should be played as loud as possible at all times. And the songs themselves? In a word: killer. As soon as "Idle Hands" comes blaring out of the speakers it's on. "Thoughts Without Words" continues on in the same vein with timely double-bass fills and awesome guitar work. Brian Fair is on his game from start to finish using his trademarked scream with clean vocals and the occasional death growl effectively. "Destroyer of Senses" totally kills as well. "Casting Shade" is a nice melodic interlude that shows that guitarists Jonathan Donais and Matthew Bachand can do more than just shred. "Stepping Outside the Circle" brings us right back into the controlled chaos by kicking our collective [...] with that Motorhead-like riff that opens it. I could go on and on about this record, song by song like this, but I think you get the idea. Just know that once the Pink Floyd cover "Welcome to the Machine" ends you feel quite fulfilled as a listener.

So who do I recommend this to? Anyone who is into any kind of heavy music, that's who. Tired of stale nu-metal crap? Pick this up. Tired of sound-alike Swedish melodic death? Pick this up. This is thrash resurrected and given a makeover. It totally wrecks you. Simple as that.

The year '02 has been very good to thrash / hardcore / death metal fans. First came Soilwork's "Natural Born Chaos", which remains the best CD released in the last few years. Then came excellent releases by Dark Tranquillity, Immortal, Meshuggah, and In Flames. Shadows Fall continues this trend of exceptional metal releases with "The Art of Balance", a metal tour de force that leaves the listener wanting more after the amazing final track "Welcome to the Machine".

Shadows Fall retain many of the elements from their previous CDs, but at the same time, their sound has evolved to another level that has raised them from a very good band to a great band. While "Of One Blood" used many traditional melodic death metal techniques, "The Art of Balance", while retaining a death metal edge, focuses more a traditional metal sound and, in some cases, thrash metal a la The Haunted. In addition, the use of accoustic guitars on such tracks as "Casting Shade" add another musical dimension to this dynamic band.

Prior to this release, Shadows Fall were one of the better bands around. With "The Art of Balance", they have definately shown that they are among the very best metal bands. Truly a 5 star CD.

Best tracks: all