ALBUM REVIEW: Empyrean – Fallujah
Over the course of their 15-year career, FALLUJAH have tread a different path to many of their contemporaries within the technical death metal space. Utilising a wicked blend of pulsating death metal, with exquisite technicality and a bedrock of ethereal atmospherics, the Bay Area natives quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the premier bands within tech-death of the 21st Century. Whilst 2019’s more experimental Undying Light missed the mark, the band are back to set the course right with album number five: Empyrean.
At surface level, Empyrean sounds exactly like what a FALLUJAH aficionado has come to expect: crushing riffs? Check. Mind-bending solos? Check. Serene melodies that swirl through the chaos? Check. However, there is enough creative firepower and innovative ideas lying at the record’s beating heart that helps Empyrean position itself as the band’s finest work to date. Perhaps it’s due to the introduction of new vocalist Kyle Schaeffer, whose roars sound absolutely monstrous throughout, and bassist Evan Brewer, or perhaps the whiff of nostalgia as it aligns its sound to more of their their cherished earlier material, Empyrean is an utter joy to listen to.
This is especially true following their polarising previous effort. Empyrean is a roaring return to form right from the first blast of opener The Bitter Taste Of Clarity all the way through to epic closer Artifacts. But where Empyrean really shines is in its tightly-knit song-structures and plethora of jaw-dropping moments that makes the record’s near-hour long runtime fly by at supersonic speed. Embrace Oblivion boasts some truly impressive lead guitar work from Scott Carstairs and a slick passage of play from Brewer and drummer Andrew Baird that dynamically changes the pace of the track, whilst Eden’s Lament spins and dances between crushing heaviness and mind-boggling solos that soar above the atmospheric undercurrents.
Into The Eventide burns the FALLUJAH flame the brightest and is not only one of the strongest songs on the record, but one of the best songs the band have ever penned to date. Gorgeous atmospheric tones intertwine with the technical riffs from Carstairs and Schaeffer leads the line with the utmost conviction. But where this track truly shines is the astonishing passage from the halfway point where the band are at their very best. A cacophony of gravity blasts drives the pace at a thunderous level before subsiding into one of the best solos on the entire record. It’s moments like this where FALLUJAH really flex their creative muscles and showcase the sheer excellence within their ranks.
Even in Empyrean‘s latter stages, the record fails to misfire, providing moment after moment of tech-death dominance. Soulbreaker is largely an unshackled rager with its hard-hitting riffage that keeps you focused but a subtle splash of angelic cleans helps keep things fresh. Duality Of Intent ebbs and flows with some phenomenal instrumental play and Celestial Resonance is simply gorgeous as the instrumental beast showcases the whole calibre of FALLUJAH‘s musical template and fully immerses you into their soundscape.
With Empyrean, FALLUJAH have regrouped after their experimental misstep and present not only one of the year’s best technical death metal records, but one of the best records of their catalogue. Dynamic, complex and successfully encapsulating everything that makes them a special band, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a record that can compete on their level.
Rating: 9/10
Empyrean is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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