Shadows Fall - The War Within Century Media 43 minutes

Review by:  Megiloth

Disc 1 1)  The Light That Blinds 2)  Enlightened by the Cold 3)  Act of Contrition 4)  What Drives the Weak  5)  Stillness  6)  Inspiration On Demand  7)  The Power of I and I  8)  Ghosts Of Past Failures  9)  Eternity Is Within  10)  Those Who Cannot Speak Disc 2 - DVD  1)  Stepping Outside the Circle 2)  Of One Blood (live bootleg) 3)  A Fire in Babylon (live bootleg) 4)  Guitar Lesson 1 w/ Jon & Matt 5)  Guitar Lesson 2 w/ Jon & Matt 6)  Drum Lesson w/ Jason Bittner

I saw these guys play live a couple years ago and they impressed me, but for some reason I never checked out any of their material.  I’ve seen these guys on Headbangers Ball a number of times, but for some reason I never check out any of their material.  So when this The War Within was released, I decided to wise up.  After my very wise purchase, I listened to this thing nonstop for like a week.  And for very good reason…this CD kicks mucho assholio.  It’s a very tolerable blend of metal and modern hardcore.  It’s no surprise that I’m not a big fan of the modern trend of hardcore?  Nu-Core?  The vocals are the shouted hardcore style, and there’s plenty of hardcore heavy mosh riffs…the staple of any band that wants to sound all mean and angst ridden, but there is a difference.  Shadows Fall actually have talent!!  Guitar solos all over the place, and the drums are full of double bass, thrash beats, and really cool fills.  Even though a good a majority of the Brian’s vocals are of the shouted variety, there are times of very competent singing.   

As for the songs themselves, I can’t think of any fillers.  All tracks are great.  Personal favorites happen to be the opener “The Light That Blinds”, “Act Of Contrition”, “Stillness”, “The Power of I and I”, “Eternity Within”, and “Those Who Cannot Speak”.  Lyrically, the band is rather positive.  So if you’re looking for corpse raping material, you’ll be sorely disappointed.  Musically, I smell hints of Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, and Extol.  It’s not death metal, but it’s not hardcore either.  It’s not overly technical, but it’s not simple by any stretch of your metal imagination.   

Metalheads of all walks of the musical spectrum should enjoy this.  Also, I’m not sure if I have some sort of “Limited Edition” copy, but mine is a tri-fold digipak with the regular CD, a DVD, and a Century Media sampler disc.  The DVD is pretty nifty.  A live performance of "Stepping Outside the Circle", live bootlegs of "Of One Blood" and "A Fire In Babylon", two guitar lessons for "Enlightened by the Cold" and "The Power of I and I", and a drum lesson on how to play “The Light That Blinds”.  The guitar and drum segments are definitely for the more advanced musician, so don’t try this at home.  You could hurt yourself.

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