ALBUM REVIEW: Counterfeit Recollections – fallfiftyfeet

Melodic metalcore trio, FALLFIFTYFEET, have put out their latest record, Counterfeit Recollections. With their origin story being vocalist, Dave Wallace, and guitarist, James Becca, meeting over Tumblr as teens, the trio have always maintained a do-it-yourself attitude with their upcoming album being independently released. To some people, being a band doing self-releases can be seen as a risk, but things have worked out in the best way with the positive reaction to their music, including a split album with WOUNDED TOUCH, and sharing stages with the likes of UNDEROATH and SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY, so they must be doing something right.

Zero time is wasted in letting us know what we’re in for when the record opens with Obituaries, which features a parody warning of the upcoming music being offensive to parents and the church, before going a melodic hard rock composition featuring growling vocals and a namedrop of themselves. A fun, albeit cheesy, way to open the album before things get more serious when we get into The Kingsport Curse where we a ring tone that’s then taken over with loud guitar riffs that blend into a track that’s fast and straight to the point.

The vocals themselves switch between the styles of rough and clean, with some comparison made to the likes of Jeremy McKinnon which seems appropriate given that we hear some elements that can be compared to the likes of A DAY TO REMEMBER, with one example being during the title track itself with the blend of all of things heavy and rough, and then juxtaposed with melodic, upbeat sections.

What’s also great about the record is how FALLFIFTYFEET are unafraid in bringing in other genre styles and create different soundscapes, whether generating images of different locations and events, or simply setting the mood. One moment we can experience a stunning blend of metalcore with distorted, electronic guitar riffs on par with likes of MUSE, as heard in Disarrangement. The next moment, we can then hear a slower take of nu-metal in the opening of Phantom Growing Pains that bring names like SLIPKNOT and KORN to mind. But of course, we can also enjoy a plethora of solid metalcore breakdowns that you can really sink your teeth into, like during Horror Tropes, and it wouldn’t be a metalcore record without a satisfying ‘blegh’, as heard in Running From The Sky.

And getting into the soundscape side of things, FALLFIFTYFEET have the ability to soundtrack scenes that showcase the fallout of a dystopian disaster with locations like an abandoned factory or a derelict city thanks to integrating sounds both of the industrial rock variety, as heard in Still Collide, and then the distorted sampling of what would have been a harmless jingle now turned horror sound used in Purgatory Blues. A stunning metalcore record from a band that may have only been around for a short time, but are sure to make a huge impact within the rock community.

Rating: 8/10

Counterfeit Recollections is set for release May 2nd via self-release.

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