BLESSTHEFALL - To Those Left Behind
BLESSTHEFALL hail from Arizona, and place themselves as part of the Metalcore community. Formed in 2003, To Those Left Behind is their fifth album. Metalcore as a genre, which can become a bit of a safe musical formula, with familiar counterpoints of clean and screamed vocals, and anthemic choruses. Not so with BLESSTHEFALL, who demonstrate a maturation of their songwriting abilities on this new album.
Dead Air, for example, is full of dynamic musical changes of pace, that bring a real shade and light contrast to the song as it develops; and provide a sympathetic setting for the story of longing and sadness, as relationships go wrong.
Up in Flames has a really pent up aggression, with some great atmospheric guitar work, and passionate screaming vocals. It is also evident here, that the band has a really tight and dynamic rhythm section in bassist Jared Warth and drummer Matt Traynor. A real asset to the songs and musical arrangements across the album. Looking Down From The Edge, has some great melodies and sharp rhythmic playing, complementing a poignant vocal from Beau Bokan; and some intelligent reflective lyrics, full of authentic desperation:
'But it's getting hard to understand
Why I'm wide awake but barely breathing'
A standout track on the album.
To Those Left Behind, the title track, has a great central staccato guitar riff, played with an infectious angularity by guitarists Eric Lambert and Elliot Gruenberg. It sounds like a massive song to play live.
BLESSTHEFALL, on this new album, show themselves as a musical force to be reckoned with. If they keep developing their songwriting and musical ambitions, they will be able to transcend the limitations of the Metalcore genre. We look forward to seeing their next musical steps.