Rise to Fall Restore the Balance
by Trevor Portz
Staff Writer
Current recording technologies—from auto-tune to elastic audio—have had an interesting effect on the record industry. With a little patience, and [very] little talent, pretty much anyone with a guitar can make a fantastically perfect-sounding album. What can’t be digitally altered, though, is lack of creativity. Restore the Balance, the new full-length from Spain’s Rise To Fall, exemplifies this notion, as the album is little more than a glossy, well-produced and well-played album full of one-dimensional, monotonous songs.
Easily defined as metalcore, Rise To Fall follow the way-overdone formula of writing mid-paced, groove-heavy songs that feature screechy vocals during the verses, and melodic, catchy choruses. This isn’t in and of itself a bad thing, and the popularity of throngs of similar bands would certainly back that claim. Unfortunately for Rise To Fall, there is virtually no differentiation from song to song, resulting in Restore the Balance feeling more like 10 variations on a theme, that theme being been-there-done-that mediocre metalcore.
To be fair, not every band possesses the gift of writing an album full of unique (yet still cohesive) songs. Can anyone really say that AC/DC records are loaded with variety? No, but at least in their case they sound like AC/DC, not a million other bands. Nothing on Restore the Balance is even remotely unique, making Rise To Fall indiscernible from any other metalcore name, whether well known or not. The only saving grace for the band would be if metalcore had somehow managed to avoid the ears of all Spaniards, but that seems highly unlikely.
Another odd point of discord comes from the song names themselves. Sure, the band is Spanish, and a bit of leeway has to be given to all non-English speaking bands, but every song name here sounds like it was pulled from a metalcore song-name generator. “Rise From Drama,” “Chasing Infinity,” “My Sombre Prospect”—pretty dark stuff indeed. Of course, there’s also “Infected Wounds” (yuck), “Redrum” (umm, no), and “Forbidden Lullaby” (scary! What would be a forbidden lullaby? Bedtime Über Alles?) Perhaps they sound better in Spanish.
With so much negativity, surely there’s something positive to say about the band… Well, as noted earlier, the production on the album is excellent, as are the performances. The band is very tight, and the guitar leads are well executed, if not mind blowing. Big kudos to the band as well for being able to remember the songs, as it would seem a difficult task to distinguish one song from the other. Of course, it’s hard to say if anyone would notice mistakes as long as everyone rides the E string and stays on beat.
With so much competition in the industry, the availability of affordable high-quality recording equipment (and art software) has made it easier and easier for new bands to deliver a professional sounding product. But the greatest recording ever mixed an mastered can’t disguise lackluster songwriting. So unless Rise To Fall can bring their writing up to the same level as their recording, they’re going to have a hard time making waves. You may have the hottest waitress at the fanciest restaurant in the hippest part of town, but none of that means anything if the food tastes like cardboard.
Label: Coroner Records
Web: http://www.myspace.com/risetofallmetal
Band Lineup:
Dalay Tarda (vocals)
Hugo Markaida (lead guitar)
Javier Martin (rhythm guitar)
Iñigo López (bass)
Txamo (drums)
Tracks:
1. Redrum
2. Unknown Presence
3. Inner Scream
4. Rise From Drama
5. Prophet of Doom
6. Infected Wounds
7. Forbidden Lullaby
8. When the Instinct…
9. …Kills the Reason
10. My Sombre Prospect
11. Chasing Infinity
Hardrock Haven rating: 4.3/10