Most know Fallujah as a modern tech-death band. Some people like them. Some people don’t. I am decidedly ambivalent. ‘But Sean,’ you ask, peering at me from across a diner table while a waiter hands me some French toast because I have a munchie attack and you’re drinking free water like a fish because you’re poor and I won’t share, ‘What’s there not to like about Fallujah? They’re kinda like The Faceless, Born Of Osiris, and Animals As Leaders in one burrito of musical prowess that’s lilting, atmospheric and yet surprisingly heavy. You hatin’?’ Frankly, I’m still not sure what to think even though I have attempted to listen to their first full-length Harvest Wombs, and all I could say was ‘Well that was cool, but where’s the meat?’ I must ask Fallujah if they’re low-level chefs because they continue to feed me soup.
And as much as I like soup, I enjoy a substantial meal more. Fallujah have melodies that can stir the heart, but it’s trite and flashy in the end, intended to be so fanciful rather than convincing. Just because you can use big words, write atmospheric passages and layer on the sweetness like a killer ice cream cake, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily fit for daily consumption, but just a once-in-a-while treat to remind you that it exists and is readily available for cheap. Fallujah just don’t impress me, and Nomadic (Unique Leader) is thus far not really changing my opinion. The fact that this is a three song EP and the second song is just a synth’n’sample pisstake that does nothing more than massage your ears isn’t becoming of their talent with actual instruments. It’s a good track for easy listening, but until they make an easy listening release, it’s just there taking up space on your computer for no reason.
It’s no more captivating than the better moments on their official debut Harvest Wombs, and I’m sad to say that their blackened deathcore EP Leper Colony sounds more groundbreaking by comparison to what they’re doing now. Hell, the fact that they managed to take frosty black metal blasting and integrate modern hardcore elements (read: breakdowns and circlepit parts) without making them too corny was a much more ballsy experiment than waxing cosmic/aethereal and hoping for the best. Too many bands of their type exist, and I’m drowning.
7.0/10
Sean Pierre-Antoine