Dead To Fall CD Review

Dead To Fall
The Phoenix Throne
(Victory)

Metalcore is dying. Or should we say it’s dead? Frankly, we’re surprised it lasted this long, and on their third Victory release, Chicagoans Dead To Fall try to avoid being part of the funeral.

The results are hit and miss. Despite a wildly inconsistent lineup since their 2002 debut, Everything I Touch Falls To Pieces, Dead To Fall have always favored the death metal influence more than their hardcore roots. That emphasis is even more clearly defined here, especially on tracks like “Smoke & Mirrors,” where guitarists Logan Kelly and Aaron Nelson run through a string of acrobatic Gothenburg-inspired riffs. Kelly, the band’s principal songwriter, pushes the band toward new realms on this record, and those experiments – the string section on “Death & Rebirth” (penned by Nelson) and the haunting dynamic of “All My Heroes Have Failed Me” – prove Dead To Fall capable of a more adventurous sound.

Still, The Phoenix Throne can be grating. Hunt’s guttural growls hardly boil with personality, and songs like “Chum Fiesta” and “The Reptile Lord” are nothing more than the band testing the limits of how loud, fast, and heavy they can be. But others, like “Doomed To Failure” and the excellent instrumental “Corpse Collector,” are better than anything the group have done. Mediocrity has smothered the once-promising metalcore genre, and while most of their peers seem satisfied fitting in, Dead To Fall at least sound like they’re looking for a way out.

6

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Spins, Weekly