Band:	Silent Fall
Album:	Otherwise
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	February 02, 2010
A review by:	Bas

01. Who Is The fool?
02. Kill For Life
03. Haunted Sights
04. Forever And Ever
05. One Cold Winter Night
06. I Wish
07. Play With Fire
08. World Of Secrets
09. This Could Have Been
10. Tears Of Fate
11. On The Top Of The world
12. Heroes [CD Bonus Track]
13. Who Is The Fool? [Black version] [Digital Version Bonus Track]

Readers, you should have pity on us reviewers. Sure, we're all really cool guys, getting tons of music for free, pretty women are drawn to us in masses to revel in our glory. But it's hard work too. The real work isn't writing these here reviews, as we reviewers are super-awesome to begin with, having some writing skills is a given and some experience helps too. No, the real hard work is giving really lame albums like this one, that lasts over an hour, multiple spins to be able to write a fair review, all the while thinking I'd much rather listen to something - anything really - else.

So what's wrong with Otherwise you ask? Let's see, Silent Fall is a French band that started under the moniker of Winterland. By itself this is no sin, but they also seem to really, really worship Sonata Arcitica. This isn't that bad yet either, personally I love Ecliptica. Where it starts getting critical is the point where the band tries to adopt Sonata Arctica's brand of melodic power metal while lacking all power in the instrumental section and without the slightest trace of memorable songwriting.

In all fairness, these guys aren't horrible. The musicians seem to have some skills and plenty of interesting bits and gimmicks found their way into the songs as well. But really powerful leads and solos as well as melodies so catchy you'll be humming them for days to come are the essentials of this genre. Add that the vocals sound too flat and weak and there we have it. If you want to play a style of music that has been butchered this much already, you better be good enough to compete at the very top. Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica and friends already have so incredibly much sound-alikes that mediocre albums like this one simply can't hope to make the cut.