Shadows Fall - Retribution

Published August 26 2009

*=Staff's pick	The Path To Imminent Ruin My Demise* Still I Rise* War King Of Nothing The Taste Of Fear Embrace Annihilation* Picture Perfect* A Public Execution* Dead And Gone

Genre	Thrash Metal	Brian Fair	Vocals
Tracks	10	Jonathan Donais	Guitar
Runningtime	46 Min.	Matthew Bachand	Guitar
Label	Everblack Industries	Paul Romanko	Bass
Release	15 September 2009	Jason Bittner	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	All That Remains, Lamb Of God, Unearth

Out of the so-called New Wave of American Heavy Metal, Shadows Fall has always been my favorite, able to mix heaviness and musicality that elicit greats in their prime like Metallica and Pantera. However, with 2007's consistent, if uninspired Threads of Life, I began to lose faith in the once-leader-of-the-pack, feeling that they had fallen into the creative rut that many modern popular metal bands have.

I can assuredly say that Shadows Fall has proven me wrong with Retribution, and have been able to bring themselves out of the mediocrity of their previous record. Though not quite as passionate and aggressive as The Art of Balance or possessing the same caliber of catchy songwriting as The War Within, Retribution mixes many elements of both, only falling slightly shorter than said predecessors.

Retribution is everything you would expect from a Shadows Fall record, and largely follows the formula the band has been following since Brian Fair has been in the band. The riffs, the hooks, the leads, and occasional tastefully-done breakdown are all present. To be frank, this record really doesn't offer anything surprising from a stylistic or musical standpoint as compared to previous efforts, and seems to be following a similar songwriting format to the widely successful War Within. That isn't to say this is a band thing, however. What the Shads lack in originality on this disc, they make up for in playing to their strengths, with an end result that serves up another thrashy romp of metal in a vein fans would want to hear anyway.

Sonically, the production is nearly identical to the last few releases they have put out, which is both not surprising considering that Zeuss has remained their producer since 2004 and desirable because the last few records have sounded great from an acoustic standpoint. The only difference is that the vocals have been produced separately, which turns out to be a good thing, really bringing out a clear, strong performance from Fair that doesn't get lost in the mix like past releases.

Musically, not much has changed, either. The riffs are still heavy without being needlessly brutal, the drum patterns are syncopated and interesting, and Bachand and Donais have stepped up their playing again, with leads and solos that are really sounding mature, adding a certain classic vibe to the songs. Fair still uses his newly-found sing-songy vocals during certain parts as heard on Threads, but has toned it down considerably, going back to a more consistent mid-range bark ala The War Within. He also mixes things up with some still-aggressive, but non-shouted vocals reminiscent of Chuck Billy or James Hetfield.

Retribution is a solid heap of modern thrash that falls short only because of the high precedent set by the band's previous albums, but does an honest-to-goodness job of reigniting the fire and riffyness that Threads of Life lacked without sounding forced.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
9	8	9	9	8

Summary
9 chalices of 10 - Dux

'Retribution' is a step up from 'Threads', which was dominated by major label expectations. Atlantic always ruin great bands! Shadows Fall will never top - 'War Within'; however, it is only the solos, and vocal variations which make new album even worthy of your time. The special edition will include some cool thrash covers of Nuclear Assault, Cro-Mags, and Ozzy's - "Bark At The Moon". Perhaps, those renditions will inspire me to purchase.
//Michael the MettleAngel (7 of 10)