Shadows Fall - The Art Of Balance - guest review
Shadows Fall - The Art Of Balance - guest review
Tracklist
01. Idle Hands02. Thoughts Without Words
03. Destroyer Of Senses
04. Casting Shade
05. Stepping Outside The Circle
06. The Art Of Balance
07. Mystery Of One Spirit
08. The Idiot Box
09. Prelude To Disaster
10. A Fire In Babylon
11. Welcome To The Machine [Pink Floyd cover]
Guest review by
Arian Totalis June 17, 2007
The reason why the title of this album is so fitting, is because they seem to have found a perfection in the balance between melody and brutality. Brian Fair is a great attribution to this effect. On songs such as 'Thoughts Without Words' and 'A Fire in Babylon', this is well exemplified. What's more, Matt Bachand is well known for having a very good death growl, this too helped to show the perfection in this album.
Instrumentally this album is simply amazing. The intro to the song 'A Fire in Babylon', for example, starts off with a melodic yet powerful intro. There are guitars playing in harmony with a crushing rhythm behind them, when it goes to harsh and heavy riff, that song is simply amazing. I feel that overall the guitar is perfect in this album. The solo work doesn't sound recycled, but remains original yet still crazy. The lead lines are played well and range from quick and aggressive to slow and beautiful. The rhythm is equally impressive, locking into every root note played and never letting up, with a diverse variety of chords, and is undeniably catchy.
The drums are ungodly on this record. This album is the entrance of the amazing drummer Jason Bittner, he is nothing short of mind blowing with his combination of double bass and cymbals work. he also has fills more crazy than previous drummer Dave Germain, and seems to always know when to hit the snare.
Lastly, the lyrics in this album are deep, diverse, and just orgasmic. If you are a spiritualist, then you no doubt would love the lyrics to the song 'The Mystery of one Spirit.' It is a calling to the occult and ways of spiritual growth. There are also many political stances taken in this album as well, as seen in songs such as 'The Idiot Box' and 'The Art of Balance'. And lastly, people can personally identify with these lyrics, as seen in such songs as 'Idle Hands' and 'Thoughts Without Words'.
This album deserves a ten, plain and simple, if you haven't listened to it, give it a chance, and maybe you'll learn about "The Art of Balance."
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by Arian Totalis | June 17, 2007
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Guest review by
sephiroth soul
sephiroth soul
Rating:
9.0
9.0
|
Rating:
9.0 |
With Metalcore rapidly becoming the new Nu-Metal, many bands are going to find themselves out in the cold and with bad reputations to boot. Shadows Fall, however, are not just going to survive this revolution but are going to thrive and become bigger and better than ever before much to the envy of its rivals. This is probably Shadows Fall's biggest and most accomplished release to date combining a much more melodic combination of Thrash and Melodeath to amazing effect. There are few bands nowadays that can mix aggression and melody so successfully without falling into this tragic, generic metalcore sound which is so often replicated nowadays. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments:
14
Visited by
41 users
 Posts: 1018 |
Posts: 1018
Not my favourite band and not my favourite album, though this is a good one IMO... The rating is too high, good review anyway...
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Loading...
|
| Christ_13
Account deleted |
|
 Posts: 3351 |
Posts: 3351
Yeah guys I know it seems far fetched, but I'm Kinda fanboyish with this album and the one after.
---- "For the Coward there is no Life For the hero there is No Death" -Kakita Toshimoko "The Philosopher, you know so much about nothing at all." _Chuck Schuldiner.
Loading...
|
| V For Vitus
Account deleted |
|
| legend_destroyer
Account deleted |
|
| Gigginova
Account deleted |
Gigginova
Account deleted
I DESPISE Metalcore, but I like these guys. They're not generic. I remember when I was 14, I was hooked to this album! I still think it's a great listen 
Loading...
|
| Posts: 3351 |
Posts: 3351 Written by Boxcar Willy on 12.11.2009 at 21:19 XD  are you fucking kidding me?! like I said, I guess it's a matter of personal preference but wow. That's one I never thought I would hear.I mean, the guitar work on this album is both insanly catchy and technical, the solos seem to hold more realevency to what is happening in the songs, stylistically this album is alot more diverse AND raw, and somehow manages to put in some of the best harmonies i've ever heard. Threads of life was a push by Atlantic/Roadrunner records to get airplay and money, and has alot of 'bla' musical aspects. Sorry man, but that's just facts. XD
---- "For the Coward there is no Life For the hero there is No Death" -Kakita Toshimoko "The Philosopher, you know so much about nothing at all." _Chuck Schuldiner.
Loading...
|
 Posts: 9570 |
Posts: 9570
The threads of life album has some of their best music and I respect that you think the art of balance is better it is pretty close but i personally like threads of life better.
Loading...
|
| Posts: 9570 |
Posts: 9570
This album is an 8 or 8.5 not a ten  edit: this album truly is a 10
Loading...
|
| Posts: 3351 |
Posts: 3351
Now I agree. But back then I was a little more of a fan boy. I have a friend that would still argue it as 10 worthy to this day.
---- "For the Coward there is no Life For the hero there is No Death" -Kakita Toshimoko "The Philosopher, you know so much about nothing at all." _Chuck Schuldiner.
Loading...
|
| Posts: 9570 |
Posts: 9570 Written by Boxcar Willy on 13.11.2009 at 17:32 Man I was Fucking Dumb back then
Loading...
|
| Posts: 9570 |
Posts: 9570 Written by Boxcar Willy on 13.11.2009 at 17:32 DUMD DUMB DUMB!!!!!! threads of life sucks. I cant believe i said that 
Loading...
|
| snake? snaaaake!
Account deleted |
snake? snaaaake!
Account deleted Written by Boxcar Willy on 05.11.2011 at 16:58 You care way too much about what other people think.
Loading...
|
| Posts: 9570 |
Posts: 9570 Written by [user id=115335] on 19.02.2012 at 14:37 True  I just hate looking like an idiot...
Loading...
|
Hits total: 5696 | This month: 6