Holy shit! Fallen Star explodes out of your speakers with Treachery and that’s really the only reaction you can give.
The fifth album from the UK heavies is their best album so far, showcasing not only the talent of the band but also their reverence of the British metal scene and their acknowledgement of evolution for bands. It’s been a long journey for founders Justine Jones (vocals) and Sammy Urwin (guitar/co-vocals) but they are now undoubtedly at the apex of the British metal scene and with Fallen Star they look poised to conquer it fully, positioning themselves alongside a few others as the pillars of the UK metal scene.
As they have shifted from their early years of mathcore into complex extreme metal that picks the best bits of US metalcore, Scandi death metal, modern tech metal, ferocious hardcore and the more classic sounds of thrash and ‘traditional’ metal, Fallen Star is the culmination of experimentation and refining that makes Treachery rip like how Slayer would sound if they debuted today, while the title track leans on the clean/harsh dynamics of metalcore, the cleans from Sammy countered by the gutturals of Justine, but then they switch and it’s the other way round, or then they both are in growl mode.
The vocal interplay between them here is just so organic and synchronised, at times they sound like one person but there is clear duality between them leading to a fuller vocals sound to many bands around today. Just listen to the way they’re used on the euphoric From This Day Forward and you’ll realise that there are very few bands around who can do this at this level. But it’s not just the vocals though, the whole band rip you to shreds with their individual skillsets.
Produced with Lewis Johns, whose modern touch makes any album sound like a world beater, Breaks Me Down continues the assault of heavy as Nathan Pryor’s bass steadies the ship with a cataclysmic groove, as ETS embrace the electronics of modern day metal, showing that this is band who have a finger on the pulse of heavy music, the djenty riffs meeting with the synths now commonplace. The pace quickens for Familiar Pain where Casey McHale’s drums never seem to slow down and David Porter’s guitars unify in shredding with Urwin’s leads.
The duo shredding on Now Thy Kingdom Come the most thrash-like song here, a proper pit starter, with perfect pacing between the slower chugs and the full bore blasts. Fallen Star is an album driven by diversity in the back room and plenty of guitar moments that admiration for classic/thrash metal means the guitars let loose and add to the crossover appeal.
The title track is anthemic, with a little bit of pop to the chorus, ripe for singing along to and just as you get comfortable they strike with the echoed angular chug of Atonement which features the first of a number of high profile guests. Here it’s Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos, so there’s a vein of deathcore to Atonement as another broad vocals style enters the fray. Elsewhere, ETS combine with Serena Cherry of compatriots in Brit metal world conquering, Svalbard, for the Last Laugh another track that feels like a throwback, it’s got a bit of NWOBHM and bit goth rocking in it too, think Unto Others. They entice Killswitch Engage’s Jesse Leach to deliver those vocals on the raging metalcore of Whose Side Are You On?
The album is based around positive themes after they exorcised some demons on previous releases, with tracks such as Brother, Stand Beside Me the invoke the comradery and anthemic style of metal of a band such as Machine Head, those “woah” refrains shifting into a thick breakdown and more atmospherics as it reaches the end. This one will kill live for sure but that can be said for the whole of Fallen Star, it’s an album that has a real instance to it, every song hangs around just long enough to make and impact and leave you wanting more so you play the whole record again.
As Fallen Star closes with the blistering duo of The Renegades and From This Day Forward, you get the feeling that you’ve heard a very special record, a definitive statement from a band that have threatened to be the leaders of the UK metal charge. Fallen Star coalesces their claim giving Employed To Serve their defining moment. 10/10
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