Brian Fair (Shadows Fall, Overcast, Death Ray Vision, Downpour, Transient) appeared on The Jasta Show featuring Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed, Jasta, Kingdom of Sorrow). He speaks about his history with the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, the state of Shadows Fall, where he stands today and being a dad.
Long running New Wave of American Metal Act Shadows Fall have announced that their upcoming fall tours of Europe and a soon to be announced USA run of dates will be their last for the foreseeable future, and the band will “take a hiatus”. They begin a tour of Europe later this week with “Hell On Earth” trek, which also features Unearth, The Acacia Strain and War Of Ages, will begin in Frankfurt, Germany on August 29 and run until September 14.
The band has released a statement
“Touring full time in a band these days has never been more difficult financially. When you have to ensure the future comfort of your family, difficult decisions have to be made. Another reason is the fact that our lead guitarist (Jon Donais) is now in Anthrax, which makes it hard for us to do any extensive touring with our full lineup. Due to his obligations with Anthrax, he will not be able to join us on this European tour. Felipe Roa (Acaro) will once again fill Jon’s position and we are thankful to him for joining us on this run. Also returning for this tour is original bassist Paul Romanko, who has sat out from touring for the last two years to raise his son.
“This has been a real hard decision for all of us to make, but we feel at this time this is the right thing to do. We don’t hate each other, we’re not bitter, we, in fact, still have a really great time together, but the ride has slowed down and it’s time for the next chapters in our lives, whatever that may be.
“We can’t thank the fans that have supported Shadows Fall since the beginning enough. Without you, none of this would have been possible.
“For the past decade and a half, we have been able to create the music we have always wanted to hear and share it with music fans everywhere. That being said, you still may see us at a festival or two over the next few years… If they ask, we will come! In the meantime, please check out the dates for the last European go-around and we will see you out there!”
Shadows Fall came out of a burgeoning scene in Massachusetts playing a combination of thrash, hardcore, and melodic death metal influences coalescing into the form of American Metalcore. Although they shared many early shows with the likes of Unearth and Diecast locally, they moved on to become one of the most prominent bands of the NWOAM in the early 00’s along with Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and Hatebreed. Albums such as The Art of Balance and The War Within are modern classics from the last decade.
Fancy a bit of thrash, NYHC, Boston HC, Hard rock and American (proper) punk all balled into one and spat out via 12 no-nonsense songs in 29 minutes? Then We Ain’t Leavin’ til You’re Bleedin’ (Bullet Tooth) by Death Ray Vision could well be right up your darkened alley.
Led by Shadows Fall front man Brian Fair and backed by Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D’Antonio amongst a cast of long-term brothers in arms, WALTYB has the balls and confidence of a band who know what they’re doing but are doing it with the injection of energy of people with a passion and a love for the type of music they’re producing.
Influences are worn high on the sleeve, but rather than there being one or two reference points for example ‘Over My Dead Body’ whirls by with nods to Discharge, Sick Of It All, Skid Row and Anthrax, while ‘Live Fast… Never Die’ tornados a punked up take on ‘Helpless’ (Metallica Garage Days version) and ‘Poison Was The Cure’ (Megadeth, but with the polish well and truly blowtorched off) before hitting a Pantera groove. Elsewhere Agnostic Front, Poison Idea and Terror spring to mind.
The thing is, though, this is no homage to a list of bands, or no retro-thrash/HC bandwagon jumpers, the above are just snippets of some of the influences to give you a flavour. ‘This is Progre$$’ stomps to the Boston beat, ‘Barfly’ kicks off with a rumbling bass before launching into a mid-paced thrash lesson in violence and ‘Forest (of Kegs)’ brings things to a close with an Overkill doom-intro before letting loose the old skool thrash.
Riffs, breakdowns (the mid-section of ‘Your Shallow Grave’ is massive) and mosh-sections fly by in a flurry, with each track, despite their average 2 minute length, containing 3 or 4 strong parts. Fair’s vocals are aggressively delivered, but the right side of shouting rather than screaming, and backed up with a smattering of gang-vocal choruses.
This thrash/HC mutant is nothing new or innovative but is blisteringly collated and delivered and foretells live mosh-pit carnage.
7.5/10
Steve Tovey