Fallujah – Dreamless (20160
We have a tendency to celebrate bands who cross genres as inventive. But sometimes the results just sound messy rather than memorable. ‘Dreamless’ – album no. 3 from San Francisco’s Fallujah – is a case in point. This is essentially Death Metal spliced together with the more atmospheric end of djent, a sound which feels schizophrenic – like Mike Tyson suddenly interrupting a beat-down to offer his thoughts on whether essence precedes existence. It’s all very admirable – ‘Face of Death’ injects the normal Death Metal pummel with programming to make it more affecting, if less immediate – but it often feels like music stuck between two worlds rather than moving forward. There are certainly moments to celebrate here – ‘Abandon’ sounds like a heavier Deftones, and the proggy-groove of ‘The Prodigal Son’ makes for a killer tune – but elsewhere (‘Amber Grace’) ‘Dreamless’ is an impenetrable mess.
We have a tendency to celebrate bands who cross genres as inventive. But sometimes the results just sound messy rather than memorable. ‘Dreamless’ – album no. 3 from San Francisco’s Fallujah – is a case in point. This is essentially Death Metal spliced together with the more atmospheric end of djent, a sound which feels schizophrenic – like Mike Tyson suddenly interrupting a beat-down to offer his thoughts on whether essence precedes existence. It’s all very admirable – ‘Face of Death’ injects the normal Death Metal pummel with programming to make it more affecting, if less immediate – but it often feels like music stuck between two worlds rather than moving forward. There are certainly moments to celebrate here – ‘Abandon’ sounds like a heavier Deftones, and the proggy-groove of ‘The Prodigal Son’ makes for a killer tune – but elsewhere (‘Amber Grace’) ‘Dreamless’ is an impenetrable mess.
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