OK, so maybe a little of the savageness, the volatile nature, and extreme quality of some of the old Shadows Fall material is missing here. However, so much hoopla is being made of their major label debut Threads of Life being a watered down sellout, that I think people are overlooking the fact that there's some great metal tunes here, and while this thing's loads more melodic than either War Within or The Art of Balance, and Brian Fair's singing way more clean vocals these days, Threads of Life still contains plenty of kick ass and brutal guitar work, which is what these guys are known for. "Storm Winds" would make a good Metallica song, and "Burning the Lives" is quality New Wave of American Metal, with brutal thrash riffs and some excellent pinch harmonic squeals that would make Zakk Wylde proud. The lead off track "Redemption" is a perfect example of good metal songwriting-yeah, it's sort of commercial, with memorable clean chorus sections and lots of melodic guitar lines, but there's also plenty of aggressive parts here as well which make for a nice contrast. "Failure of the Devout" is solid thrash, with Fair spewing harsh metalcore shouts, while "Dread Uprising" throws some intricate riffs at the listener as the arrangement is heavy, although a tad plodding. You can't go wrong with the last two tracks, the snarling "Just Another Nightmare", and the speedy, guitar-fueled thrash attack of "Forevermore", kind of a Anthrax-meets-Nevermore demon with plenty of crunchy riffs, raging drum parts, and wild guitar solos. Long time fans might be a little shocked at the tender ballad "Another Hero Lost", which, besides being totally out of place here, is well done.
I'm sure many felt that Shadows Fall dropped the ball somewhat on their Warner Brothers/Atlantic debut, and released a toned down affair when they could have really shocked the world with a blistering, extreme platter. Listen carefully though-this CD is plenty heavy, but the band has obviously matured as songwriters and musicians, so their need to branch out in other areas is evident. While Threads of Life shows the band losing a step from a ferocity standpoint, you can't deny the melodies they injected here helped them come up with some really killer, memorable songs.
Track Listing
1. Redemption
2. Burning The Lives
3. Storm Winds
4. Failure Of The Devout
5. Venomous
6. Another Hero Lost
7. Final Call
8. Dread Uprising
9. The Great Collapse
10. Just Another Nightmare
11. Forevermore
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