CINDERS FALL - review added 26th August 2009
EP Review: The Reckoning EP (2009)
For fans of: Melodic Death Metal... and the Gotherburg sound
UK band Cinders Fall have been pumping their technical, loud sound since 2004. The Reckoning is their 2nd release and follows 2007's The Bridge Between.
The band is Anthony Masters (vocals), James Bartram (guitar), Ben Sullivan (guitar), Jordan Pillai (bass), Laurence Al-Shaar (drums) and Colin Eatherton (keyboards). Boy do they owe a lot to the sound of Swedish melodic death metal! If The Reckoning's style was any more similar to At The Gates' seminal Slaughter Of The Soul there would be a disruption in the music-rhythm continuum.
Scott Atkins (former Stampin' Ground guitarist) has done a fantastic job with production and, between you are me, this EP has a far superior sound to work of the Gotherburg legends... but the songs just aren't at the same level of out and out catchiness.
The performances themselves on are brilliant and the writing by James Bartram and Anthony Masters is good too, if obviously derivative. What they really need to do is put a lot more effort into originality and give their songs huge hooks and mega-standout riffs. Listen to this side by side with tracks by At The Gates ('World Of Lies' and 'Under A Serpent Sun' for instance) and there's just no comparison. The Cinders Fall tracks are fantastic in isolation but they don't have that incredibly memorable nature that flowed through the blood of A.T.G..
Be in no doubt, Cinders Fall have the potential to be great, legendary even, but they need to focus less on replicating the best from the past and concentrate more on generating the best of the future. Can they do it? I don't doubt it for a second, but this isn't quite it.
Check out... This album if you like the Gotherburg scene done with a UK spin.
Track List:
1. Dead Zone
2. The Sorrow
3. Beyond Existence
4. I Inside
5. The Reckoning
Label: Transcend Records
Artist's website(s): Cinders Fall , MySpace
