Fallujah - Undying Light (2019)

The progressive death metal scene has expanded a lot in the last years, with new bands coming and going quicker than you can say "Wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube men", so to stay relevant in this ever evolving genre, you have to be on your toes. The Bay Area boys of Fallujah quickly became a favourite for many with their atmospheric take on the genre, standing out as a unique force of beautiful brutality that reached its peak with the 2016 release "Dreamless". Everything seemed to go in the right way for the group, but here we are three years later, with their fourth record entitled "Undying Light", and with a tide that has seemingly turned on them.

So the biggest change with the band during these three years is in the line up. Co-founder and vocalist Alex Hofmann left the band in 2017, and has since been replaced by Antonio Palermo, thereby changing the sound drastically. Let me be clear from the get go, Antonio is a capable singer, but he is a completely different singer than Alex was, having more of a screaming type that fits more into any of the -core genres. His style of vocals just does not fit in to what the band is trying to do, his high pitch screams ruins the mood that the backing instruments are trying to set, ultimately becoming a distraction. It becomes sort of the same situation that happened to Mötley Crüe when John Corabi replaced Vince Neil for a short period of time, a good vocalist in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Antonio can breath easy that he is not the only problem with "Undying Light", because I dislike the production even more. It might seem like the production is sort of the same as in "Dreamless", but everything in this record is just louder, trying way to hard to get some attention. "Dreamless" was loud too, but only in moments, hitting hard when it needed to. This record goes hard on everything, which makes it lose a ton of that dynamic songwriting that is buried somewhere. It is an incredibly monotone record that secretly has a lot of creativity in it, but it never shows unless you pay an unhealthy amount of concentration towards it.

The most disappointing part about "Undying Light" is probably the fact that there is so much great music not getting the spotlight it deserves. There are several juicy bits in here that makes you remember what this band is capable of, parts like the flowing chugging in "Dopamine", the vibrant melodies of "Sanctuary", the mad blast beats of "Eyes Like The Sun" and "Departure", and the hypnotizing rhythm of "Ultraviolet". This is a record filled with goodies with a bitter after taste, which makes it more frustrating than it have any right to be. It also does not help that the ambient aspect of the band's sound is all but gone now, which is another blow to lovers of the previous records.

So yeah, "Undying Light" is an early front runner in the not so flattering category "Disappointment of the year", mostly because it has small threads of what makes Fallujah so awesome, but do not do anything creative with those bits, while incorporating things that just does not work. I have faith in Fallujah that they will bounce back in the next record, they are talented enough to understand what they can do better and how to utilize their new additions to make more astonishing music. Until then, just go back to "Dreamless" or "The Flesh Prevails" and relish in the great music the band has produced thus far, because "Undying Light" is not a good representation of what Fallujah can be.

Songs worthy of recognition: Ultraviolet, Eyes Like The Sun, Departure

Rating: 5,5/10 Glass Houses

www.facebook.com/fallujahofficial
twitter.com/Fallujahbayarea

More reviews of Fallujah
Dreamless