Beyond Fallen - Mindfire
73%
Beyond Fallen hails from Northeastern Pennsylvania and is a relatively new band, formed in the summer of 2003. So far they released one self-released EP, one self-released album and won a prize at Keystone College’s Battle of the Bands, which immediately gained them access to the regional crowds. 2007 looks to be the band’s best year yet with a new album coming up and tours planned both in the States as well as in Europe.
This band attracts me. Which is good of course, but to be honest it’s not so much for their quality as it is for their musical style. US Metal it is called. But I’d like to call it the future of heavy metal. They stick to the original heavy metal sounds but combined with their modern metal influences the overall mix becomes quite attractive. And, judging from my own experiences, heavy metal really isn’t something for the new metal generations. Though, by listening to bands as Beyond Fallen, interest in heavy metal could increase once again.
As I said before the classical heavy metal influences are clearly present in their music; shredding guitar solos, lengthy songs with a nice tempo and a vocalist that can only remind you of the big masters of the scene (only sounding less experienced). And I’m not trying to say here that this band sounds like Trivium or something, but Trivium is basically another example of a band that mixes classical elements with more modern music. I think it is exactly that, that makes them reach the big crowds all over the world. There’s something in there for the old leather-pants, long-haired dudes, as well as for the new nu-metal 15-old kids. Consider Beyond Fallen a band that could reach the sub-top in that scene, only using heavy metal instead of thrash metal.
The biggest minor on the album so far is that it still lacks true originality and there is, in my opinion, a bit of a weak vocal department. It’s just not all that powerful as the accompanying music. So for that aspect, I’m already curious to their next effort, hoping the vocals will come out a bit more and I think the band will do even better then. All in all this is their first record released on Melissa Records and I think more is yet to come! Keep an eye out on this band and you might as well pay them a visit while on tour through Europe or the Unites States.
