Customer Reviews

Threads Of Life

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I know that this review will be followed by several saying that I am stupid and am not aware of how awesome Shadows Fall is, but I still think it is worthwhile to let other people know my opinion. I was excited for this album, Shadows Fall shows so much potential at times but this release is such a disappointment. While it isn't terrible, it just is not good. It suffers the pitfall of many metal releases, all the songs follow identical formats and never keep your interest. If you don't believe me, scan through this CD and let me know if almost all (with the exception of one or two) aren't : a kind of cool guitar intro that might lead to something cool, then drums come in with the same predictable snare on every beat,and then mediocre vocals singing some of the most lackluster vocal in recent memory.

Don't buy this album looking for some sort of blistering heavy metal experience. Don't buy this album if you want something you may replay again. If you want to buy a mediocre heavy metal album then I guess you should buy this album, but I say take a stand. Don't just buy whatever Shadows Fall puts out in front of you. The War Within was a good CD. The follow up bonus track CD was just a desperate attempt to make more money with nothing new and this CD is just a group that didn't really try and put out some music.

I'm sorry to all the die hard Shadows Fall fans, and you may enjoy this album which is great for you, but I really felt like Shadows Fall underachieved and didn't really put enough into this release. I know they could have done better.

I've only listened to this CD a couple of times and I do agree with the reviewers that say Fair's vocal's are a little more mainstream, but this record will give you more of what you expect from Shadows Fall; crushing rhythmns, a good dose of double bass, excellent leads. Think of The War Within without the "metalcore" vocals.

The latest Shadows Fall album should come in a plain white sleeve with nothing but a bar code and the words "Contemporary '80s Thrash-Style Metal Album Mk VII" stenciled on it. I am a tremendous metal fan, and have been for years. I have been positively exuberant over the late "rebirth" of metal's popularity over the last few years, with new, exciting bands coming out of the woodwork and older, semi-retired bands making a comeback after all these years. I first read about Shadows Fall in a guitar magazine, and picked up "The Art Of Balance", which I thought was a respectable metal album, with exciting, dynamic and heavy guitar work, good songwriting and some great soloing, and decent vocals. Bonus points for an interesting and cool cover of Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine".

The follow-up, "The War Within", unfortunately tried my patience, with an annoying style seemingly composed of differing rock and metal styles which never seemed to click together in a convincing way, plus positively annoying vocal work which was almost cringe-inducing. Sadly, after hearing the band's latest effort, "Threads Of Life", my patience may have finally worn out. Here we have great production values, good metal songwriting, and Brian Fair finally settling on a decent vocal style which actually sounds great (perhaps due to the good ol' studio magic). The problem for me is that this disc is the most uninteresting, just plain BLAND metal offering I've heard in years. In the new 21st century metal music environment, where so many talented bands compete for attention and have some specific facet to show you, whether it's killer chops and technical proficiency, a unique sound, or just being extremely good in a very specific sub-genre, Shadows Fall just don't seem to have much to offer. Maybe I'm being to harsh, perhaps I'm just tired of waiting for them to make "The Art Of Balance, pt 2", or whatever, but this is just the musical equivalent of vanilla pudding. I gave it an extra star because I still think this band has a lot of potential, they have simply been writing uninteresting music of late.

I do like Shadows fall. But I havent herd anything really chang since Art Of Balance. There not one of those bands that can just Grind your head off (even thats gets old sometimes) I fell that If I want to hear them I would rather hare Art of Balnce. Plus I fell there a bit overated. Their nowwhere near Bands like Old Metalica Death Slayer Even win I did hear Art of Balance I never thought it was there. I thought in time but now that thought seems to be a disappointment

There probably won't be an album released in 2007 that is more highly anticipated, closely inspected, and strictly critiqued than Shadows Fall's new one, "Threads of Life." After selling over 300,000 copies of their last full-length (2004's "War Within"), this Massachusetts-based quintet followed in the tracks of Lamb of God and Mastodon by (finally!) jumping to a major label (this is their first effort under Atlantic Records). Subsequently, the band teamed-up with a well-known producer (Nick Raskulinecz) who has worked with such pop groups as Velvet Revolver and the Foo Fighters. These things considered, this could have been just the thing that haters were waiting to scream "sell out" at.

So what are we to make of the new album? Well, here's the thing: It sounds slick. Extremely slick, in fact. Atlantic's big budget and production definitely shine through here, as evidenced by the crisp lead guitars, punchy drums, big choruses, and multi-tracked vocals that are as smooth as a baby's bottom. Thus, a lot of fans will be immediately turned off that it isn't as raw, intense, or edgy as, say, 1997's debut, "Somber Eyes To The Sky." But there are a couple of advantages of this huge production, including a thicker guitar tone, and hooks that are just spectacular. So, the first listen to "Threads of Life" will probably be spent dwelling on how glossy it sounds, but after giving it a little time to digest, the album will soon reveal itself as the extremely contagious listen that it really is.

Every band member is at the top of his game here, and they turn out some of their best and most professional, realized, and phenomenal music to date. Jason Bittner's drumming is as quick and forceful as ever, and Paul Romanko proves he is solidified bassist by laying down some of his meatiest and most pronounced bass lines. But there are really three star performers who take up most of the spotlight. The first of which is longtime frontman Brian Fair, who proves he is much more than just a "vocalist" -- he is an actual, honest-to-goodness singer! And a darn good one, too! Sure, he can still growl when he wants to, but he never sounds remotely one-dimensional or overly angry, because most of the time he opts for a full-throated singing voice which shows off his warm, powerful pipes. The two other stars are Jonathan Donais and Matt Bachand, who are doubtlessly one of modern metal's leading guitar duos. Their riffs are deliciously crunchy, their leads are usually blazing fast (without ever being out of control), and their solos have gotten more technical and ripping, and now even occasionally border on being melodic.

The songwriting is superb as well. The Shads' 2002 release was named "The Art of Balance," but that title could have just as well applied to this disc, too, because there is variety aplenty here. The result is a superbly exciting, meticulous, contagious, diverse, mature, rich, and well-textured sound. Plus, Brian Fair also chipped in by coming up with some of his smartest and most passionate and personal lyrics. "Threads of Life" has many terrifically memorable songs, and even if some are more so than others, there isn't a single stinker or filler to be found from front to back. In other words, heavy music doesn't get much more consistent, listenable, easy to digest, or flawless than this nowadays.

The propulsive "Redemption" hits the ground running with excellent, bullying guitar leads, deft double bass slamming, and a huge, wonderfully harmonic and infectious chorus that will have everyone in the whole arena waving a lighter. "Burning The Lives" works similarly, with a forceful, streamlined chainsaw guitar attack opening the song before giving way to a "Dimebag" Darrell-worthy solo and an open, cleanly sung chorus. "Storm Winds" is the album's first semi-ballad, but not to worry: the fine singing, well-placed bits of guitar crunch, and terrific solo present here make this song another keeper. "Failure Of The Devout" slips in a nice, Testament-esque acoustic intro, then proceeds to rocket into a river of blistering, chunked-up guitar shred and pounding drums.

Then, however, things start to get a little more experimental. Three of the next tracks, the hooky "Venomous," "Final Call" (which is highlighted by a grumbling bass line and one of Donais' best solos to date), and the especially hefty and chunky "Dead Uprising," are all muscular yet mid-tempo chug and churners which slow down the record's pace significantly. You'll probably grow more and more uncertain as you make your way through surprising tracks like the ultra-melodic "Another Hero Lost," which will instinctively be thought of as a blatant stab at getting radio play. However, after dreamy, ambient acoustic strums, two cool solos (one melodic, the other blazing), and Brian Fair's mindblowing singing voice and touching lyrics (inspired by Fair's cousin, who died while stationed in Iraq), are added to the mix, then "Another Hero Lost" turns out to be a great power ballad which any Eighties thrash band would be glad to call their own. Then comes "The Great Collapse," a gorgeous, piano-based interlude.

Two final songs round out the set, the first of which is one of the biggest highpoints on hand here. In addition to a vertigo-inducing guitar solo, "Just Another Nightmare" boasts an awesome chorus composed of irresistibly sweet, sometimes almost even (dare I say it?) emo-ish crooning that stays in the listener's head for several days. Finally back on familiar ground, "Forevermore" ends "Threads Of Life" the same way it began, with an all-out onslaught of thrash riffage.

"Threads of Life" will surely be too mainstream for some fans (especially longtime followers), but fair-minded listeners will find absolutely nothing to dislike here. This is an unquestionably epic, excellent and satisfying album which is a frontrunning candidate for the year's best metal record, and is one of the top thrash releases of the new millennium. It even has the potential to go down as one of the genre's all time classics, and to say that Shadows Fall are now firing on all cylinders would be a gross understatement. Some would argue that The Shads came close to but did not quite fully achieve true greatness with their first six full-length releases, but there should be little debate over that now, because "TOL" is the kind of stuff that legends are made of.

While this album fails to deliver that "special feeling" that 'The Art of Balance' or 'The War Within' did when I was first introduced to Shadows Fall, I still feel that all metalcore fans should support these bands that have been keeping it Real. Most of these bands make crap for money and they work their a$$es off trying to satisfy critic fans (like some of the reviewers here) only to be thanked with poor reviews and NO sales. Don't like the music? Piss off! It's better than Justin Beaver and I'm glad to shell out my 10 measly dollars to keep bands like this alive......Amen to that.

Shadows Fall you're hardcore!!! Keep up the good work guys! Looking forward to seein you guys in Texas!!!

I have no idea how a band signs to a major label only to dissapear....as another reviewer mentioned, they sold way more with no push on an indie label....things that make you scratch your head, I guess that is the music business in a nutshell. One of the best releases of the last year, it's just a shame they didnt get more out of this CD.
I'd also recomend the Skinlab's new live cd as well, SkinnedAlive...another great overlooked band.

Don't get me wrong, this is a solid album with lots of heavy riffs and good overall sound. BUT, being a huge SHADOWS FALL fan I see a little less and less old school in ther songs. That was one of the most appealing things about the band was old school thrash,with new style sound,gave them something all their own. I just see the band slowly going in a more "listen friendly" direction. SORRY GUYS, but a power ballet on this album just didn't cut it. I admire the lyrics,but a different style could have been used. Honestly, I would have given it 4 stars but skipping over that song every time gets old. In closing, we all know what happens to bands that get to commericial. "METALLICA...WHO"!

After waiting anxiously for what seemed liked an eternity, another great band drops a huge "cleveland steamer". Shadows Fall was poised to achieve greatness. Standing on the heels of the very impressive "The War Within", many devout fans, including myself, were expecting nothing less than perfection from this group of unbelievably talented players. What we got was a collection of bored, bland, and completely uninspired mediocre heavy rock. Most of the tracks sound like chopped up bits and pieces of The War Within. Jason Bittner really brings nothing to bear here that even comes close to the power he displayed on War Within. The bands creativeness overflowed from the that album so much that the EP "Fallout From the War" was released with discarded tracks from the main album. I was hoping for more of the same. I compare this release to recent releases of late from such artists as All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, and Trivium. Only Hatebreeds new album showed some of the same hardcore aggression we are used to. It is almost as if this genre is dying. Hopefully not....just my two cents.

I was a little reluctant about this album when I first put it on. Redemption was a good song but it once it got to the clean singing chorus I thought it was trying to be too commercial. The next couple of tracks weren't quite as commercial feeling but sort of followed the same trend with catchy mid-tempo guitar licks and more clean singing than the usual growling that Brian Fair gives us. Once the album starts progressing however, I was surprised by the variety of the tracks, a lot of which are indeed heavier, almost akin to Art of Balance era Shadows Fall. Threads of Life feels a lot like The War Within mixed with a little of Balance. Despite the diverse the tracks it flows well from start to finish, making it a very addicting album to listen to.

1) Redemption: The song that you've probably already heard if you're a Shadows Fall fan. I think this is SF's attempt at getting some radio play, and it is a commendable attempt. While it does sound more mainstream it's still a good track. The opening riff after the intro is fast and the chorus is hard not to sing to. 7/10

2) Burning the Lives: This one is a pretty good mid-tempo track with some fast paced riffing mixed in. The music is heavy enough but the clean singing makes it lose some of its potential punch. Great solo section though. 7/10

3) Storm Winds: This one is okay, but after 2 other mid-tempo semi-commercial sounding tracks, it lost something for me. The riffs are okay, but the drumming in this track is pretty plain and we have more clean vocals. For me, it's just a descent filler track. 6/10

4) Failure of the Devout: Now this is what I'm talking about! After the fist 3 tracks I had to make sure I was still listening to the same album. We have a short mellow intro that leads into a blistering track with great hooks and nice angry growls from Fair. This song is heavy and fast and reminds me of early SF. Bravo! 9/10

5) Venemous: Continuing the new pace of the album nicely, we have Venemous, an angry and riff oriented track with a great chorus. It's tracks like these where you can tell the band is at their most natural and flowing well together rather then just trying to arrange a tune that sounds good. Great stuff. 8/10

6) Another Hero Lost: Wow. With this song we have an honest to God ballad, the first like it that we've heard from Shadows Fall. To compare with other metal ballads I'd say it's akin to Pantera's Cemetary Gates and Metallica's Fade to Black. It's heartfelt and musically impressive, going from mellow acoustics to electric, and if I'm not mistaken guitarist Matthew Bachand takes over on vocals. Also forgive me for being ignorant on the subject matter, but I believe it deals with a band member's personal loss in the Iraq War. This is a great tune. 8/10

7) Final Call: This track sounds a little more like the begining of the album, a little too clean and polished without enough bite. It's still a good song though, albiet a little longer than it could have been, with a good solo section. This is another one that I might categorize as descent filler. 7/10

8) Dread Uprising: This one is about as close to OOB and AOB era Shadows Fall as this album gets. It's pure heaviness without a spot of clean singing. Great riffs, solos and just a great track all around. 8/10

9) The Great Collapse: Art of Balance anyone? Here we have a short acoustic instrumental intro piece at about 1:36 long. As far as short acoustic intros go it's great.

10) Just Another Nightmare: A nice heavy one with good choruses and riffing, though after the previous "intro" track I was expecting an epic like Fires of Babylon. This song is good but not quite what I was expecting. 7/10

11) Forevermore: Okay, now THIS song should have followed the instrumental buildup. This is my favorite track on the album. Everything that I liked about Threads of Life can be found in this song. The drums are great, the riffs are heavy and fast, the solo in this song is awesome and the vocals are the perfect balance of clean and angry growling. This song has an epic feel to it and proves why I love this band. 10/10

I give this album 4 stars because like with The War Within, they've strayed a bit from their original sound. With Of One Blood and the Art of Balance, they blended thrash metal with contemporary with even a touch of death metal thrown in. While they may have lost the heavier part of their style and mellowed a bit, they haven't sold out and are still a great band. They show that metal can still stay true to its roots without going into "Nu" territory. Threads of Life is another good one in Shadows Fall's arsenal and I recommend it.