#nwoushm

[metalsongoftheday]

Thursday, March 21: Shadows Fall, "King of Nothing"

Retribution wasn’t so much a reset as a recalibration for Shadows Fall: after leaning too hard on the traditional metal aspects of their sound on Threads of Life, their sixth album aimed for something of a return to the trad/metalcore balance of The War Within.  To that end, “King of Nothing” weaved in both elements with traditional song structures and guest growling from Randy Blythe.  And although the band had taken a step backward both artistically and commercially on their previous album, their interplay remained strong as usual, with Jason Bittner’s prog/thrash drumming adding further dynamics to Matt Bachand and Jonathan Donais’ alternately crunching and weaving riffs.  Through it all, Brian Fair remained one of the more underrated vocalists on the scene, bringing plenty of his own personality to both his Hetfield-esque yarl and the metalcore roaring.  Shadows Fall unfortunately fell behind their peers in Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God, but “King of Nothing” was one of the better tracks of its time, and the guys presaged much of the thrash and trad metal revivals that would soon dominate the scene, and with better songs to boot.

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, March 19: Diecast, "Internal Revolution"

Jason Costa had already left Diecast for All That Remains by the time the former recorded what would be their final album, but even so, Internal Revolution had a lot of the same features and textures that brought the latter some measure of commercial success. The title track was full-on metalcore/NWOUSHM, ostensibly of its time (All That Remains would rely on the same formula for at least another 5 years) but actually a couple years late, and was an instance where the band checked off the necessary boxes and didn’t make a false move, but at the same time didn’t have the personality or way with hooks to turn it into something bigger and better.  Perfectly fine, but nothing that made the case for Diecast’s continuing relevance or even existence.

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, June 1: All That Remains, “Before the Damned”

Overcome played like more of a refinement and consolidation for All That Remains following the great leap forward that was The Fall of Ideals, with numbers like “Before the Damned” providing a continuation of a sound that clearly worked for the band.  Jason Suecof’s production was a bit more spacious, making the songs sound a touch smoother, and the band sounded tighter and more confident.  But while these were mostly incremental adjustments, Phil Labonte’s vocals were getting significantly better with each record, as he learned to better modulate his grunting and growling and balance out his cleans so the transitions were more organic.  And insofar as metalcore had settled on its basic template by then, All That Remains had honed in on their approach and by virtue of adhering to its tenets became one of the leading practitioners of the subgenre, with “Before the Damned” epitomizing All That Remains and its scene in totality.

[metalsongoftheday]

Wednesday, September 1: Dry Kill Logic, “Paper Tiger”

If Dry Kill Logic came too late to the nu metal party with The Darker Side of Nonsense, they shifted gears just in time to try to capitalize on the New Wave of US Heavy Metal with The Dead and Dreaming three years later.  “Paper Tiger” was perfectly timed to follow on the heels of Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, as it had similar breakdowns and smooth and catchy choruses.  Cliff Rigano’s vocals didn’t have the depth of Howard Jones or Brian Fair, and the accompanying video proved he didn’t have much stage presence either.  But “Paper Tiger” was an entertaining mosher that worked within the context of the moment, and the music checked the necessary NWOUSHM boxes while also remaining sneakily melodic.  None of this was enough to actually elevate Dry Kill Logic, but they fit in with their time and place.

[metalsongoftheday]

Wednesday, June 30: Shadows Fall, “Nothing Remains”

Fire from the Sky was supposed to be the record where Shadows Fall righted the ship and got back on track: back on a proper label (Razor & Tie, which had successfully elevated All That Remains to greater commercial heights than anyone expected) and working with Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz as a producer, their seventh album found them poised to reestablish themselves as major players on the metal scene. Instead, the record turned out to be their last gasp, as its middling sales and the group’s inability to land a major tour resulted in the Shads going on indefinite hiatus about 2 years later.  It was unfortunate, because even though “Nothing Remains” was true to the formula almost to a fault, that formula mostly worked, and the track was heavy and catchy in equal measure, and Brian Fair’s vocals had evolved in pleasing ways.  By this point the band was so fully locked into each other that Jason Bittner’s relentless drumming fused perfectly with Matt Bachand’s and Jonathan Donais’ twin riffing, while Dutkiewicz’s smooth production gave the track a seamless feel that reflected the band’s maturity as writers and performers.  This wasn’t Shadows Fall at their very best, but “Nothing Remains” was a worthy and winning headbanger that should’ve put them back on close to equal footing with Killswitch and other former New Wave of US Heavy Metal colleagues.

[metalsongoftheday]

Friday, December 8: Shadows Fall, “A Fire in Babylon”

The Art of Balance was a breakthrough for both Shadows Fall and Century Media, both of whom found themselves perched to take full advantage of metal’s creative and commercial resurgence in the early 2000s.  But the band’s third album also epitomized the strange state of flux both the band and label were in at the time: Shadows Fall had announced themselves as worthy upstarts with Of One Blood, while Century Media had built up years of goodwill through its commitment to the underground and nurturing bands like Iced Earth, Nevermore and The Gathering, but all were still financially strapped and not entirely sophisticated on an operational level.  All of this meant that The Art of Balance, though exhibiting significant creative growth, was still a bit bush-league, especially in its production values.  As such, “A Fire in Babylon” would’ve absolutely destroyed had it been saved for The War Within (when both the Shads and Zeuss fully came into their own), but here it was a promising epic that just slightly missed the mark.  Brian Fair’s lyrics were esoteric and insightful, but he didn’t fully understand how to arrange his vocals and harness the power of his roar, instead coming off as somewhat aimless in the verses.  Meanwhile, Matt Bachand and Jonathan Donais delivered Megadeth-worthy aggression with their riffing and solos, but Zeuss could only do so much with the pennies Century Media budgeted for the recording. Nonetheless, “A Fire in Babylon” captured Shadows Fall’s potential in full blossom, showing a band ready to step up and take their place alongside Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God as leaders in the New Wave of US Heavy Metal, while also showcasing their more dynamic and ambitious side.  And indeed, one album later they would bring these qualities to full fruition and briefly reign supreme in their scene.

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, February 21: Trivium, “Caustic Are the Ties that Bind”

In Waves was largely a continuation of Shogun (which remains Trivium’s best album), though it was slightly more straightforward in its construction but also more cohesive and esoteric in imagery.  But “Caustic Are the Ties that Bind” continued Heafy’s penchant for inexplicably wordy and nonsensical song titles, while musically, the song harkened back to Ascendancy with its chugging blastbeats, metalcore verses and semi-anthemic choruses, though Heafy had also clearly grown considerably as a vocalist, sounding much more forceful and less whiny.  Colin Richardson’s production gave the song an epic feel even though it was only 5 minutes long, and the tune had the feel of a polished and tight unit wrecking the joint with precision and finesse.  Of course, the lyrics were profound to Heafy and absolutely silly to everyone else, though in his defense, he was still in his early 20s when he wrote them.  Trivium often got in their own way, letting their ambitions overwhelm their writing, but “Caustic Are the Ties that Bind” offered proof of how effective they could be when they put their heads down and let it rip.