I have five different CD players, three in my home and two more in cars. The copy of Threads of Life that I received to review wouldn't play in any of them due to its copy protection technology. I could have chosen to download this from the Internet and then just reviewed it without anyone being the wiser, but I didn't - you can rest easy tonight RIAA. Instead I visited three different friends just to be able to find a CD player that would actually accept this damn disc. Needless to say, my expectations were high considering the amount of work I had to go through just to listen to Threads of Life.
My consensus after listening to this, the latest full-length from Shadows Fall is this: how the mighty have fallen. Actually, that would be a suitable subtitle to this review of Threads of Life. For a band that was once one of the more entertaining and original sounding bands in heavy metal, they sure have gotten monotonous. Of One Blood is still one of my favorite records in that realm of metal. But since its release, Shadows Fall has done nothing more than become a generic version of themselves by simplifying their song structures and rehashing songs.
The band's first single, "Redemption," is pretty much what I expected to hear based on the recent output of Shadows Fall. The music is heavy metal with a thrash influence, but something is lacking. There isn't that sense of urgency that made songs like "Fleshold" and "Stepping Outside the Circle" so appealing. If Shadows Fall didn't write these songs, then some other Euro-thrash influenced metal band waving the flag of the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal" would have.
Another noticeable difference here is the more polished and softer approach taken in their songs. Could this being their major label debut have anything to do with that? I can't really say. Regardless, I never would have thought of hearing a song from the band's early days on the radio, but there a couple here that could make the cut. And then we happen upon "Another Hero Lost." This song is a ballad - no bull. And while the band does an admirable job, especially Brian Fair's vocal display, it isn't something that I would normally associate with a Shadows Fall record. The remainder of the record turns into a blur of similar sounding songs and I can't even recall anything worth acknowledging.
Lyrically, from what I can decipher in my repeated listenings, Fair continues down his self-analytical path. These introspective lyrics are out of the ordinary for a metal band and I do commend Fair for delving into these personal topics, particularly "Another Hero Lost," even if I don't enjoy the actual song.
And to end on a personal note, I'm kind of getting fed up with record labels not sending out full copies of albums for review. How am I supposed to review the whole package if all I have is a CD I can only play in special CD drives, no art (though after looking at the coverart online, maybe it was better that I didn't), and some warning label about copy protection and watermarking. At least I got to have a little fun making up words to the songs.
