Fallujah: Ascending To The Highest Heaven
Bay Area-based FALLUJAH have walked a different path to many of their contemporaries within the technical death metal space. Whilst the band have boasted complex and intricate musicianship since their inception in 2007, the heavy bedrock of ethereal atmospherics and a potent eye for majestic melodies put them in a different league to many of those who just rely on flexing their shredding skills. 15 years after their inception sees the arrival of album five, Empyrean, and for guitarist Scott Carstairs, he tells Distorted Sound that their newest effort was deliberately constructed to be a record that encapsulates their musical journey up to the here and now.
“When we sat down to make this record, and we were discussing it, we wanted to make the ultimate FALLUJAH record so we couldn’t abandon all the other albums, that was the whole idea with this one,” he begins. “You have your own version of what you think is nostalgic and luckily I’ve been able to develop an audience on Twitch and that’s helped me get a better vibe of what people love about the band and what excites them. I know that we wanted to make something that was new but also touched on the ultimate message of the band. I feel like this album is more intense than any other records we’ve done.”
A record that is dynamic, complex and devastatingly heavy one minute before shimmering with ethereal beauty the next, intense is a perfect summariser for Empyrean. Whilst it not necessarily marks a creative rebirth for FALLUJAH, as just a cursory peruse across its runtime will showcase their identifiable aural traits as clear as day, but their new studio outing marks a welcome return to form following the more experimental leaning Undying Light. Not a bad record by any stretch of the imagination, but 2019’s previous outing was more divisive amongst the FALLUJAH fanbase, something that Scott addresses was the result of specific artistic choices he made during the creative process.
“In that moment I cared about satisfying my own artistic goals, and it did feel good,” Scott says. “It was like I had to do that to get that off my chest. But I learnt the importance of interacting with the fans and interacting through your catalogue, I guess I had more fun with that on this album, like playing with people’s expectations. On the last album I threw that out of the window, it was like you’re going to listen to what I want to do to the fullest, you know what I mean? I made a bunch of choices with that record to steer away from certain sounds but with this one its almost like I wanted to play with people’s nostalgia but also introduce them to new sounds.”
But of course, Undying Light isn’t confined to the FALLUJAH vault to gather dust and slip out of memory, as certain elements from their previous record have their place on Empyrean‘s soundscape. “I wonder how many elements that are from Undying Light are on Empyrean?” Scott asks. “As far as the way I’ve arranged layers and the chord progressions I picked, as well as the voicings that I learned, there’s certain things that are really heavy but melodic that are definitely borrowed from that album.”
FALLUJAH‘s music itself has often explored a realm beyond the traditional confines of heavy music, the same can be said of their themes and artistic direction. From the striking album artwork of The Flesh Prevails, Dreamless and Empyrean to lyrical concepts that dare to ask life’s biggest questions surrounding mortality, higher conscious and a yearning for something beyond our meagre existence in the universe, Scott and his bandmates aim big with their music and associated concepts. Although Empyrean is not a traditional concept record with one flowing narrative, Scott explains that the album’s title is reflective of those higher topics, which in actuality come from a very grounded and relatable situation. “I think we titled the record correctly, it really fits with the way the music sounds and the theme. Empyrean is like the highest heaven, it’s the highest place,” he states, offering a deep insight into the subject matter at hand. “That’s already super ethereal. The whole idea of like yearning for bliss, searching for that better place. I think it was just where we were, and where all our friends were, with having the situation we had to deal with over the last couple of years. I like talking about space and cerebral hybridisation and all that cool stuff, but I just don’t relate to that. Neither do any of my friends or my group of people I’m with. I wanted to make a record related to how we were feeling and the challenges we went through.”
With a record that encapsulates their journey up to this point, Empyrean embodies everything that makes FALLUJAH such a special band within the world of heavy music. Technically proficient and ethereal fragile, their new record cements their place as as a forward-thinking and expansive band. Looking ahead, it won’t be long until the band arrive once more to UK shores as part of Faces Of Death tour with mouth watering lineup of RIVERS OF NIHIL, ALLEGAEON, INFERI and HARBINGER. Intending to put their new effort front and centre, Scott closes our time with him in confidence. Empyrean marks a grand new era of the FALLUJAH story. “I really think this album is really important for our career. I think we need to get as many people listening to this and knowing where we are at. I think it’s some of the best material we’ve ever put together, it’s what we set out to do: make the ultimate FALLUJAH record. I think it’s going to be our base camp, it will set the precedent going forward for this next era of the band.”
Empyrean is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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