Band:	Shadows Fall
Album:	Fallout From The War
Style:	Metalcore, Thrash metal
Release date:	June 13, 2006
Guest review by:	Arian Totalis

01. In Effigy
02. Will To Rebuild
03. Haunting Me Endlessly
04. Seize The Calm
05. Carpal Tunnel
06. Going, Going, Gone
07. This Is My Own
08. Deadworld [2006 version]
09. Mark Of The Squealer [Leeway cover]
10. December [Only Living Witness cover]
11. Teasin' Pleasin' [Dangerous Toys cover]

"Fallout From the War", being Shadows Falls fifth studio effort, is a dramatic change from their normal playing style. Even though their first and second albums differ from their third and fourth, they still maintained key similarities. Such similarities were brutal vocals mixed with occasional clean singing, very melodic and technical riffs, good musicianship, and above the standard performance. This album is TOTALLY different. Elements in this album are mediocre performance, mediocre musicianship, very little growling and more clean singing, mediocre melodies, and semi-technical riffs, not to mention the overly layered production and obvious efforts toward a more commercial sound. The very first page of the inside of the album booklet says "prepare for the fallout." They have no idea how accurate they were with such a statement, because upon the release of this album, they had fallen out of good terms with loyal fans and into the pocket of corporate whores.

The guitars on the album were lacking in the excitement and brutality of past albums. They also lost the beauty in the melody of their normal writing style. Vocally this album is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compared to any of their past albums. Brian tries more just straight forward singing on this album, and while sometimes he's good at it, it's just not suited to him for a full time thing. The production on this album is more mainstream however, and the choruses and verses just sound so much more commercial than on previous albums. The song "In Effigy" is a perfect example of this, with a mediocre re-hashed solo, a mediocre re-hashed riff, and a very predictable and generic breakdown, this song was the big promoter for the album. Surprise? I think not. There is one thing about this album to be praised, however. If there were one reason at all to buy this album, it would be because of the song 'Deadworld.'
Taken from an EP that is now out of print, they re-released this song for this album. This is in my opinion one of the best SF songs ever written. It has an awesome intro, which thrillingly builds up and kicks into the legendary song that it is. Finally, to completely expose how lazy they were in making this album, they covered three, count'em three songs. This to me shows a lack of imagination on their part, and just utter laziness and unwillingness to try and write quality music. One cover on an album is fine, two at the most, but three?! come on, get real man.

I could throw this album in my CD player and enjoy it with no problem, but it wouldn't by any means amaze me. So if you like to spend your money on half-hearted CDs, that's fine, and if you don't, that's fine too, but there is only one word to describe this album; mediocre. So buy it if you want I don't care, just prepare yourself for the fallout.