By Tate Bengtson In the world of extreme metal, songwriting dynamics are more precious than gold itself. A band may somehow manage to compose a decent album with little consideration for the dynamics of song structure, sonic texture, or harmony, but it certainly cannot create a great metal album: one that will relentlessly punch you in the face with its sheer heaviness, yet engage the mind and bewitch the ears with its challenging songwriting. This sense of song dynamics is not lost upon Massachusetts' Shadows Fall, a band that takes the listener on an insane rollercoaster ride of Gothenberg-esque melodic guitar leads, innard-squishing songwriting twists, and an intimidating mixture of metalcore growls and cleanly sung harmonies. On the band's Century Media debut, Of One Blood, Shadows Fall blatantly ignores genre boundaries as it concocts a sound that will appeal to a broad cross-section of metalheads with its combination of extreme metal's oppressive heaviness, thrash metal's confrontational tempo changes, metalcore's violent breakdown passages, and melodic guitar leads that recall Amok-era Sentenced. When identifying characteristics that are integral to the Shadows Fall sound, guitarist / vocalist Matt Bachand suggests that "what we try to do is bring out a sound that reflects on the different styles of music that we all listen to. Between the five of us, that could be virtually anything from classical to death metal to punk, as well as anything and everything between. Of One Blood seems to follow all of those directions at one point or another. I would like to think that any fan of metal could find some redeeming quality on the album - at least that's what we try to do, appeal to everyone." This interpenetration of metallic sounds results in an intriguing listening experience, particularly on songs like the blazing title track, where the band's riffage is at its most brilliantly complex, the drum patterns fiercely energetic, and the clean and growly vocals playing off each other in a continual dialogue between the refined and the primal. Bachand considers the title track to be a standout on the album, noting that it and "The First Noble Truth" are his favorite cuts from Of One Blood, the main reason being "the use of clean vocals. We use clean vocals in most of our material, but these two tracks in particular are represented very strongly in this manner. It is definitely an approach that we plan to evolve with over time." For the band, songwriting is a collaborative, democratic effort involving the creative energy of each band member. Bachand notes that "some [members] may have more initial ideas than others at the start, but we always make sure that we are all happy with a song before we take it to the table. Things are usually changed around quite a bit before anything is called 'complete.' The one thing that makes writing difficult is the fact that Brian [Fair, lead vocalist] lives about 2 hours away from the rest of us, but we have adapted to the situation and we get him involved in the writing of the music as much as we can, not just the lyrics." When writing and recording for the new album, the band members had a general idea of how "we wanted things to go, but nothing set in stone at the time. The one thing we did agree on immediately is that we wanted to open the disc with 'Crushing Belial,' because it contains elements of everything we do all wrapped into one." And, as a microcosm of Shadows Fall's massive sound, it is an impressive example; introduced with a quiet forty-nine second introductory track that sets an ominous tone for the track and the album as a whole, "Crushing Belial" then bursts open like a berserk barbarian hepped up on speed and revelling in the carnage and devastation of battle. And then, after about two minutes and forty seconds of utter sonic bloodshed, the band retreats into a temporary bout of soft acoustics and melody, an deceitful offer of peace designed to lull the listener into a false sense of security before once again kicking loose with renewed vigor. As Bachand observes, "a person could get a feel for the whole record just by listening to ["Crushing Belial"]." While the process of writing a song is generally quite lengthy, Bachand cites the title track as a tune where everything "just fell together piece by piece in a very short amount of time. On the other side of the coin, 'Crushing Belial' took quite some time because it does contain so many different styles. It was difficult to make it sound 'normal' in its transitions. But I think it worked out alright." While the strumming of an acoustic guitar or the use of atmosphere-creating keyboards aren't exactly unique features on the face of modern heavy metal, the subtle, provocative manner in which Shadows Fall integrates these softer elements into its sound is quite striking, particularly on "Root Bound Apollo," a track rich in melody and atmosphere, particularly during the first two minutes, and boasting an advanced musicianship that capably shifts from ominous atmospherics to militant metal riffage with striking ease. In response to the claims of some heavy metal purists that keyboards and acoustic guitars dilute the power of heavy metal, Bachand responds in typically balanced fashion that "I think heavy metal is what you make of it. I see no reason to make the same album or write the same songs that other bands have in the past - that has already been done. I also think that the use of these elements can also create interest in metal from people that would normally look the other way. I love metal, but I like lots of other styles too! I see no reason to keep things limited." In 1997, prior to the release of Shadows Fall's label debut on Century Media, the band self-released Somber Eyes To The Sky to popular acclaim. Somber Eyes scored a spot in the CMJ Loud Rock Top 10 chart, a European licensing deal, and ultimately sold 11 000 units. Despite its extraordinary success, Bachand recalls that the band was not as focused on the recording of Somber Eyes as it was on Of One Blood. "It seemed that when we were heading into the recording of Somber Eyes, we were not really prepared to record," Bachand recalls. "In fact, that album was not expected to cause the stir that it did. There were many problems with the mixing and it was just a long process. Of One Blood was much more relaxed - we recorded some pre-production demos before we even thought about tracking the final takes, so we were ready when it started." Another significant change between the two albums has been the replacement of vocalist Phil Lebonte with Brian Fair (ex-Overcast). Bachand observes that "the switch has given us a bit more diversity in different vocal styles. Brian uses an aggressive clean style that we didn't have with Phil. Although Phil is still a great vocalist and a close friend, his vocal approach wasn't really expanding in the same direction as the sound of our music. We have been friends with Brian for years. We have played many shows together with our previous bands and in fact we toured with Overcast in the summer of 1998. It just seemed a natural progression for us to add him into the lineup when we did." With regards to the mixture of growls and clean singing, Bachand generally handles the cleaner harmonies, although Brian is apparently "heading in that direction more as well and we plan on using that to our advantage in new songs." Because of the genre-bending manner in which Shadows Fall plays, the band has been able to tour with a variety of bands and expose its music to a wide range of fans. From the death metal rumblings of Six Feet Under to the violent hardcore of Overcast to a date on the Warped Tour in 1998 alongside Sevendust, the band has taken its message on the road and, like a travelling evangelist, has won converts with its fiery charisma and energetic stage presence. Both the metal and the hardcore scenes "have been very accepting of us and we are quite grateful for that," notes Bachand. "A few years ago it would be different since back then the scenes seemed to be very divided, at least around here. But now both hardcore and metal kids are going to the same shows and people seem to be opening their minds a lot more to each other's preferences." Despite the recent hints of a growing unity between metal and hardcore, the scenes still tend to remain separate from one another. Recognizing the divisiveness of scene politics, Bachand states that the members of Shadows Fall "stay away from all of that. To us, it's all about the music. There is no reason that someone's opinion should prevent someone else from having a good time at a show. I say, leave the politics in Washington and bring the ability to have a good time to a show!!! It's never easy to build bridges over places that don't want to accept it but I respect everyone's opinions and I would hope that they can respect mine." Copyright 2001, BallBuster, The Official Int'l Underground Hard Music Report