Somber Eyes to the Sky

I always wanted to like "Somber Eyes to the Sky" more than I did. This is a record that seemed like a great idea in theory, but doesn't quite deliver on the premise. I remember putting this debut Shadows Fall album on my 'want-list' from the moment I heard about it (the Genet version was released in Europe back in 1998). I loved the idea of a hardcore band making a pure metal album. The band were following in the footsteps of earlier Massachusetts acts like Overcast and Aftershock, both of whom embraced the ‘metal’ aspect of metalcore. "Somber Eyes to the Sky" might have been the first metalcore record to use At the Gates riffs ("Slaughter of the Soul"-era), a trend that would continue into the new millennium.

Unfortunately, I’ve never clicked with most of the music here. I was nonplussed about the album when I first heard it (and relegated it to the bottom of a large pile of CDs). I listened to it again recently, half-expecting to discover hidden depths. I did indeed discover hidden depths; Shadows Fall were a talented band and wrote long, detailed, melodic death metal songs. My lack of enthusiasm towards the album remained the same. There is something missing here. These songs don't deliver the intensity of great mid-nineties metalcore, and they don’t match the class of decent progressive death metal either.

Shadows Fall worked hard on these songs. There are plenty of fresh ideas. The interchanges are smooth and the band is tight. The best song is opener "Revel in My Loss", where the band's long-winded approach to song-writing pays off. This one makes liberal use of "Slaughter of the Soul" riffs without sounding like an At the Gates clone. The vocals hint at Glen Benton (in the vocal patterns). It all flows together in solid, serious, progressive death metal fashion. It even reminds me of The Chasm, another band that intersperse thrashy breaks with melody. This is a great song. Other interesting ideas appear throughout the rest of the album. The instrumental new-age tune, "Lead Me Home", might be a tribute to Opeth (although it sounds more like Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity").

The album's biggest failing is the frequent use of clean vocals. These appear on almost every song except the opener. Examples include "Pure", "Fleshold" and "Nurture", all of which are ruined by them. The vocals themselves are not 'bad' from a technical standpoint. They're not great but they are at least in tune. The problem is that these vocals never fit the context. These catchy choruses are disconnected from the melodic death metal song-writing. This idea may have come from Life of Agony's debut, or from Fear Factory's "Demanufacture" (both of which used clean vocals to great effect). Shadows Fall lacked the vocalist and the song-writing acumen of those bands. Couple this with the relatively weak production, particularly on the kick drum, and the album falters.

This is an underrated album from a historical point of view. There is originality here, and it may have paved the way for other metalcore bands. That said, this is a case where I prefer the subsequent bands. The era of ridiculously metal-sounding metalcore bands soon produced albums by Barrit, Undying and Dawn of Orion. All three were better than Shadows Fall. In particular, I recommend Barrit's superb "Smiles Upon the Stroke that Murders Me" as the perfect antidote to this album. It has all of the chaos and destruction that Shadows Fall lacked, along with an equivalent emphasis on melody. I can’t say that "Somber Eyes to the Sky" is a bad record, but it deterred me from checking out any of the band’s later (and more famous) material.

Shadows Fall's debut LP, Somber Eyes to the Sky, sounds quite different from what they would be doing in the future. This is a more aggressive album. You can easily draw similarities between this and older In Flames and Dark Tranquility. One obvious change between this and the later albums is the singer. Phil Labonte (now in All That Remains) is a much more aggressive, death metal type of singer, and fits in well with this album. The bass is also pretty high in this mix, which does take away from the guitar at some moments. And, as can be expected for a debut, the production sucks. The songs more than make up for it.

It opens up with Revel in my Loss. This is a great melodic death metal song, with some kickass riffs and vocals. The lack of something like a solo (which the remake on Of One Blood has) hurts it, but still a great song. Pure is next, and is one of the best songs on the album. 6 minutes of kickass melodeath. Plenty of good riffs and leads here, though the bass sometimes overshadows the lead guitar, which on these particular songs gets annoying.

Lead Me Home is a short instrumental. The acoustic riffs are nice. They also incorporate a violin in, which sounds good, until it starts playing at the same time as the lead guitar. It completely overshadows the lead, which is a pretty cool one. And then we go to To Ashes... this song kicks incredible ass and is the best on the CD. It alternates between clean and death vocals and clean and distorted guitars. Matt Bachand, rhythm guitarist, has a kickass clean voice. Some great guitar work on here too.

Nurture's next. It's average. Filler track. We then get to Fleshold, which is the worst song in Shadows Fall's career. It's basically a hardcore song. Simplistic guitar riffs, repetitive guitar riffs... No. Eternal and Suffer the Season are both good melodeath songs, though nothing incredibly special. Somber Angel is another song that kicks incredible ass. Opening with an acoustic intro, and then moving into 5 minutes of incredible melodic mayhem. Great vocal performances on this one too. The album closes with Lifeless. Good song, best solo on the album.

Fans of Shadows Fall will want to check this out, along with those who don't like their newer CDs but do enjoy Gothenburg-esque type music. A good CD, with some amazing songs, but nothing truly great.