All Things Fallen, formed in the year 2017 by Markus Sigfridsson (of the Darkwater, Harmony and Lance King fame), have recorded their 2nd Studio album “Shadow Way ” which is due to be released on the 3rd June under the Blackoak Record label. It’s mixed and mastered by Dennis Koehne and will be distributed by Beyond the Storm Productions worldwide. The band onboarded Raphael Dafras (of the Edu Falschi and Almah fame) on bass with guest appearance by Maria Grigoryeva on Violin and Ulrik Arturén on Backing vocals.
The band states that, “Old fans of melodic atmospheric metal will enjoy this album, which is melancholic, melodic and has a darker vibe than the first album. It flirts with the 70 ́s Rainbow style but with a modern production. The lyrics of All Things Fallen often deals with contemporary events and issues in our world, but often from a metaphoric stance. A perfect album for fans of atmospheric and progressive metal and bands like Evergrey, Soen, Pain of Salvation and Darkwater.”
While this was my first time listening to ATF, I went ahead with an acquiescent mindset. The album opens up with “The Sentinel” which blares on with a chunky guitar riff with a hint of flutes lingering in the backdrop. The vocals remain clean throughout the breadth of the song, and have subdued seconds embedded well within the mix. The song builds on ambient elements as it progresses and changes course midway which brings about an enigmatic arrangement of the song. With “Rebirth” the band takes an aggressive stance at the onset, carries forth with hymn-like lyrics paired with flaring guitar riffs and a catchy chorus which parallels an eclectic guitar solo. The crunchy guitar riffs drive the song and set the stage for everyone else to follow. One of the longest and craziest guitar riffing that follows is a true hallmark of the progressive genre, that one is sure to remember. What an amazing feat!
“Chaos System” acts as a breather, a little too soon perhaps? But that can only be justified as we progress listening to the album. “Pandemonium” has a unique song arrangement and sound very different from its predecessors, it feels like a mix of Metal and Jazz, and has all the power to transport you to the late 70s. The number of progressive jumps the song makes, adds a layer of incongruous and manic release which culminates into something fascinating. “Path of Dismay” starts off heavy on Organ paired with a psychedelic guitar riff and transposes onto something quite different as it moves to verse. The song treads on ecstatic and unpredictable song arrangements, as it juggles and puts forth a brilliant show of absolute sublime creativity. I didn’t see that coming!
“Narcissistic Ritual” blends in acoustic, melancholic and melodic overtones and is the ballad on the album. The band takes in time adding in various electric, ambient and progressive elements as it culminates the song with everything in their arsenal and finishes off with a bang! “Kiss of Death” treads over a rugged guitar riff, supplemented by melodic vocals and guitar phrasing which adds colour to the song. The song never loses momentum and jumps from one riff to the other fluidly. “Desert of the Real”, the longest song on the album, starts off heavy on Organ and clunky guitar riffs which gets diluted with vocals and synth arrangements. After a fairly long verse/chorus an onset of crunchy stepped guitar riffs propels the song to a meaty segment with an overtone of the bassline that prevails much throughout the maddening guitar solo.
The album ends with the self-titled “Shadow Way” which will definitely leave you hanging in the late 70s, having a sound that feels as fresh as it gets. A very different take and approach from any other song of the album. The progressive jumps on the track are out of the world, something that’s definitely going into my multiple repeats list! The song is Groovy, has a bit of Doom stance and a sprinkle of Glam and Grunge sound to it which will leave you wondering, “What was it that I just listened to!”
Production – The production on this album was amazing. Every sound on this album was raw and crisp, the tones were balanced and every instrument got its fair share.
Conclusion – Every song on this album has a surprise progression that’s different from the other, which makes listening to this album a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to listen to their first album and hope to hear more from them in the future.
Rating: 9/10
Written by: Ankit Sood
Band Members:
Markus Sigfridsson – Guitars, bass, keyboards/programming
Leo Margarit– Drums
Erik Tordsson– Vocals
Raphael Dafras– Bass
Track Listing:
- The Sentinel
- Rebirth
- Chaos System
- Pandemonium
- Path of Dismay
- Narcissistic Ritual
- Kiss of Death
- Desert of the Real
- Shadow Way
Release Date: June 3rd. 2022
Record Label: Blackoak Records
Weblinks: Facebook / Spotify / Bandcamp
Video for ‘Pandemonium’ (With intro – Chaos System)
Lyric video for ‘The Sentinel’
