ALBUM REVIEW: Earthbeat – Colossus Fall

Metalcore seems to be going through a bit of a wonderful resurgence. Whether it’s the scathing sounds of the most recent output from the underground or from a band like COLOSSUS FALL, who have been at it since 2011. Crafting their sound to a knife edge, the Swedish five piece are set to rumble 2019 with their most recent offering, Earthbeat.

Now bad, punny album titles aside, this is an album that means business. Earthbeat kicks off with distorted chugs that sound ripped straight from an UNDEROATH record and then layer in the typical discorded racket that the European scene is renown for. It makes the COLOSSUS FALL sound seem to be a bit of a iron fist in a velvet glove. Darkness Swirled Around Us provides the perfect introduction as it dives from strategic patterns to sheer hardcore influenced chaos. It’s the perfect window from which to see everything one can expect from the rest of the album.

The band do have multiple sides to their music, as COLOSSUS FALL show a softer side to things, albeit for a few bars, in The Nameless Men. And they use it as an anchor from which the longest song on the album proves the band to be one of progression, as the song evolves in a mesh of rhythmic patterns to round off proceedings. COLOSSUS FALL are definitely a hybrid of styles and they use it to their advantage, almost like an american metal engine in a European post-hardcore shell, but it does the come with its downfalls.

For anyone familiar with the bands that have placed clear influence on COLOSSUS FALL it does make things awfully predictable in terms of pacing. The album follows the same structural patterns and never really shakes anything up throughout Earthbeat, but there is enough competency to hold the attention of fans. As well as this, the addition of some slower, more doom orientated elements are a welcome entry for when the band decide to slow down the punishment.

Whilst a good time for fans of later 2007 metalcore sounds and also the European style of playing, there is more than enough in COLOSSUS FALL to enjoy. The biggest issue with Earthbeat, that by the end of its nine track album, there isn’t a single moment that stands out because every song shares the same highlights. The early grab by Fury for being the song you remember most is quickly forgotten about because the whole album is painted in the same colour. Whilst this works for consistency, and makes Earthbeat an album that is perfect for being left on in the background, but when the attempt is to be attention grabbing this isn’t ideal.

Earthbeat is certainly a good album, but consistency and rhythmic excellence aren’t what makes a great album. And whilst COLOSSUS FALL still prove themselves to be vanguards of the rising metalcore resurgence, there are likely going to be more records that take the spot at the front your mind this year.

Rating: 6/10

Earthbeat is out now via Tenacity Music. 

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