I have come to the realization that if any band has Sean Ingram sing on their record, it will make that band sound stronger than they do normally. That is not a cut on those bands. It is simply a testament to the unique and powerful vocals of Ingram. Unfortunately for Fall River (or fortunately, depending on how one looks at it), Ingram provides the brightest spot on their full-length, Lights Out. Not only that, but it also further indicates the immense debt that Fall River's sound owes to Coalesce overall.
Out of the gates "My Heart, the Beggar" sounds like an unreleased outtake from Coalesce's 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening that was never finished. It is a fairly decent song, but it has elements that are so similar to "What Happens on the Roadââ¬Â¦" (the first song on 0:12) that it hurts. "I'm not a Big Fan of Parentheses (Burn Baby Burn)" contains the previously noted Sean Ingram guest spot. When Ingram's part comes up and the music drops out leaving only the drums and his bellowing, it sounds like yet another Coalesce song. It is too bad that this song is so short because it has some good ideas in it. The rest of the songs on Lights Out range from mediocre at best to songs that might not even be worth b-side status. Most of the songs are mid-paced and offer very little emotion in the timbre of the sound, and those that don't are mind numbing in their predictability.
At first, I was going to take a rather apologetic approach to this review, but decided against it due to the fact that I kind of liked the album at first. After hearing it many times over in the process of compiling my thoughts on it, the realization swept over me that it really is a sub par record. I have seen this band and think that they are much better live than on this album. I hoped that they could have translated to a studio recording better than on Lights Out. Ultimately, it is evident that Fall River is comprised of competent individual musicians, but there's really nothing unique-sounding on the album. The recording is rather lackluster, seems to have an absence of balls, and is rather sterile sounding.
