I’ll start off saying that I love Shadows Fall. They were one of the first non-mega-huge-mainsteam bands I got into back in the day even though they are quite popular. The Art of Balance is one of my favorite albums of all time, with that said, none of their albums since have topped it including Fire From the Sky. This new release from Massachusetts finest definitely screams metalcore, and I totally dig that. Metalcore in the sense of when it was good, actually mixing metal and hardcore, and not the watered down kind that emerged in later years. Between guitarists Matt Bachand and Jon Donais, there is some great riffage throughout the whole album and Jason Bittner‘s drumming is on par with all of Shadows Fall releases. Though it seems like they continued with the same sound as with 2009′s Retribution, you can hear aspects from earlier efforts. Though Retribution was good, it wasn’t great, Fire From the Sky is an improvement. ”The Unknown” is one of my favorites off the album. It has an amazing build up, solid structure, and when the song takes it up a notch, it’s a real head bopper, not to mention a great solo towards the end. Songs like “Weight of the World,” “Blind Faith,” and “Save Your Soul” brought me back to the Art of Balance/The War Within days and are solid songs on the album. One thing that stands out to me is that it seems like Brain Fair is forcing the deep growls at times, one the other hand, Bachand‘s clean signing sounds really good, especially on “Save Your Soul.” The only song that really didn’t do it for me is the title track, just seemed humdrum to me and is a good example of the forced deep vocals. Overall Fire From the Sky is a pretty good album and recommend to old and new fans.
RATING: 7 / 10
By: Matt Darcy
Band Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shadowsfall
