Shadows Fall – Retribution

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Shadows Fall haven’t advanced massively in the last five years (2006′s Fallout From The War was mostly left-over tracks from War Within, and 2007′s Threads of Life was its poorer cousin), so they aren’t going to be winning over many new fans, but this is a solid, coherent album with plenty of great riffs and catchy songs. Retribution is mostly as vocally melodic as the War Within/Fallout From The War duo of albums, but musically more aggressive with some excellent solos. One or two tracks, like War, could easily have come from either of the two previous albums, but others show a few fresh ideas in terms of composition and changes of pace within the tracks. Some tracks, like A Public Execution, have riffs that are distinctly thrash, while others have riffs in the style most recently labelled ‘NWOAHM’ (New Wave of American Heavy Metal), which are essentially a cross between thrash and the melodic death metal attributed often Stockholm. So, it’s mostly more of the same, but a better album than the last one, and just as good as the one before, highlighted by some of Jonathan Donais’ best guitar solos.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Heavy Metal (Extreme Vocals), Quick.Play Reviews, Shadows Fall