Shadows Fall

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Nevermind the overall mediocrity of The Art of Balance, or even the fact that a band once highly regarded by "true" metalheads being the go-to "cred" band for the fashioncore crowd...I'm not so sure their next album is going to be any good. For those of you that don't know, Shadows Fall ended their run with metal label giant Century Media following their recent release of Fallout From The War (a collection of 6 new songs, 1 re-done version of a song written between Of One Blood and Art of Balance, and a few covers). While I can see this being justified as Century Media has been known to fuck over its acts (Stuck Mojo had the potential to be HUGE back during the rap/rock craze of the late 90's, but weren't pushed at all besides a spot on Nitro and a video starring Raven and DDP), I can't really justify their new label.

 

They've moved to Atlantic Records. Now, true, Atlantic was the home of such acts as Led Zeppelin and Pantera, and even has Metallica and Kid Rock (though that's not really a compliment anymore), but...c'mon. I'm looking at the names of the artists on the label, and the majority of them are awful pop radio tripe. Shinedown. Cold. The Donnas. Simple Plan. P.O.D. Skindred. Sean Paul. The Click Five. Jet. Those are acts on Atlantic Records, most of them heavily pushed (P.O.D. has the odd single that's pushed a decent amount for no real reason every couple of years), that have little-to-no true value. Say what you will about Shadows Fall and having value, but I'd say the band that kickstarted an entire style of music that currently dominates the heavy music mainstream (that, of course, being metalcore) better know what they're doing.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing their next album, their first on Atlantic, sometime in the next year or two when it's released. I want to know if it will be more like the sound they've been sticking to recently (mostly a modernized style of speed metal with hardcore elements thrown in here and there at the right time), or if it will be their Black Album (good in the sense of exposure, terrible in the sense of actual quality and the direction the band might go in afterwards).

 

This is more like me venting a little bit. Bands like Cannibal Corpse, Hatebreed, In Flames, and Gwar have been huge for years (again, at least as far heavy music goes), and they're all still on what one could call "independent" labels (though I'd definitely say that Metal Blade is much more of a major label than any other distributor of metal and hardcore).

 

Here's to hoping the next album is as good as The War Within and not just a modern version of Metallica.

[2GOLD 0]

It's a definite worry but I'm waiting on the album before I say it was a huge mistake to go with Atlantic. I'm not hopefully but I'm not ready to condemn them to hell just yet. It all depends on if its a deal where Atlantic has all the influence in how they look and sound or it is just a deal where Atlantic is just releasing the albums to a wider audience. Cause there were times when I wanted a Shadows Fall album and it was nowhere to be found.

 

Right now, it's a question mark and that first album will let us know if they sold their soul or not.

[Steviekick 0]

I'm really anxious to hear what the new album is going to sound like. I kind of always figured they would get more melodic, with them switching singers from Phil Labonte to Brian Fair because he had more vocal diversity, and them saying in an interview that the "art of balance" represents the balance between aggression and melodicness in their music. Unfortunately, I really don't like the direction they've been heading in. I loved Of One Blood, enjoyed parts of The Art of..., but really didn't like The War Within. Out of loyalty, I'll pick up their next album. I just don't know if I will like it though.

 

On the other hand, I really want to like their new album and the band deserves success. I've seen them a bunch of times in concert since 2000, and talked to them a few times as well. They really are a good group of people, very approachable. Seeing them doing well would be a cool thing.

 

I'm predicting that their time on Atlantic will be short, kind of like when Hatebreed was on Universal. They released two albums to decent success, but not really what the label wanted. Both parties mutually split up and Hatebreed signed with Roadrunner. I can really see that happening with Shadows Fall, as Atlantic is releasing the album in the US, but the rest of the world is getting it via Roadrunner.

 

Laz, I don't think that SF and Century Media had a falling out, they did a really good job promoting TWW, which is CM's best selling record to date. They also did a decent job advertising and supporting Fallout From The War, which seems to be a compilation for the sake of fulfilling a recording deal.

 

From talking with CM bands at shows, like God Forbid, Brandnewsin, and the Haunted, they all seem very happy with CM. There's no reason that Stuck Mojo shouldn't have been promoted. If you look back at the bands that CM was promoting then, they were ecstatic that Iced Earth and Nevermore were doing decent and completely ignored everything else. I think that CM has gotten better at promoting their artists...the last two Lacuna Coil cd's have sold around 200K each.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Don't lose all hope. Mastodon just put out a fuckin' sledgehammer on the very same label.

 

I don't like Shadows Fall one bit, but Atlantic is capable of releasing a solid metal album.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I didn't really like The War Within...

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I really like The War Within. Almost as much as I like Of One Blood.

 

Also, Fair having more vocal diversity than Phil? All I'm going to say is listen to the new All That Remains single, "This Calling." The music sucks and is generic metalcore, nothing new for the band, but Phil's voice...is amazing in it. His growl is good, his scream is good, and his singing during the chorus...I'm in love with it. It's melodic without sounding forced, beautiful without sounding feminine...damn.

 

Agent, you're right. Everything I've heard off Blood Mountain has kicked me harder than most of Leviathan. DEFINITELY need to pick that up ASAP.

[Slayer 0]

Laz keeps on falling off

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I haven't fully digested it yet, but on the first couple spins, it's more complete than Leviathan, but lacks the punch Remission has.