Keeping in with the trend of the last couple of days, we are now on our fourth day in December. Meaning that today is our fourth album of the year. Although they may not have stood the test of time, young bloods Fallujah are seemingly beginning to re shape death metal completely. Releasing this year’s fantastic The Flesh Prevails, following on from their EP last year Nomadic crafting their previous sound to a point where the band have birthed a completely new genre of untapped potential.
Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails
One particular ingredient of the prestigious award of Album Of The Year is originality and Fallujah have absolutely tons of it. When I first encountered their refined sci-fi sound on The Harvest Wombs, instantly I recognised that they weren’t doing anything similar to any of the bands of this day and age. With the death metal scene often being over polluted with same generic sounding bands pumping out the same formulaic sounds Fallujah were quietly working away honing their already individual qualities to a level that would make them untouchable.
Then came the release of The Flesh Prevails, an exmplary performance where the band have melded their post rock background style sound. A beautiful idea with a slightly uglier outcome, although The Harvest Wombs is a great record there were elements where you could easily get lost along the way, often with songs sounding far too similar. The Flesh Prevails, however gave the band an identity, similar to AOTY Day 2 Behemoth’s The Satanist, there may not be an explicit concept but the album itself is totally immersed in the nature of ying and yang. With the glaring constrast being the seamless movement between some of the heaviest music released this year and the beautiful and serene tones. Illustrated through the bands beautiful artwork with the idea of light/dark, old/young, male/female etc… An idea that on the surface would seem like madness and if executed poorly would be a catastrophe. In the hands of Scott Carstairs the album excels in all elements with many strings to their bow a heavy bass presence from Robert Morey standing out in the mix. The impreganable drums of Andrew Baird work in perfect harmony with Alex Hoffman‘s universe devouring vocals, all the while Carstairs paints a melodic canvas and Brian James holds down rhythmic duties creating the perfect juxtaposition.
Most importantly with ideas as grandiose as these there needs to be continuity, throughout the nine tracks you could argue the album is constructed to be one piece, beginning with the introduction of the ethereal “Starlit Path” and the heavier aspects single “Levitation” to our second act where female vocals come into play enhancing the soundscapes of “Alone With You” and instrumental featuring none other than Christian Muenzner (ex Obscura) to finally bringing the album to its close with the reprise that is “Chemical Cave“. Hinting already at the ideas that would be formed in later works the album comes to a Samsara like close. Truly a revolutionary album, Fallujah have dabbled with some interesting and risky ideas. Although they may not be the most experienced band out there, they retain that certain adolescent attitude of doing what they want, when they want. If The Flesh Prevails is any indication then it seems that everyone wants them to keep doing exactly what they want to do.
