Rise to Fall – End vs Beginning (Coroner Records)
Thursday, 11th June 2015
Spain’s Rise to Fall have been gaining momentum over the last two albums. Admittedly, it felt as if there was something missing on their debut, Restore the Balance, but 2012’s Defying the Gods began to give the band a bit more personality and showed a marked improvement. That leads us to the recently released (and always important) third album, End vs Beginning. This album seems to be what they’ve been striving for since the beginning.
For those unfamiliar with Rise to Fall, it easily falls under the modern melodic death category. There are some pretty definite nods to In Flames and Soilwork, alongside their labelmates, Disarmonia Mundi. The album is equally full of gorgeous melodies and vocal choruses, and never seems to tire throughout it’s near-hour runtime. You’ve got some adrenaline-soaked, faster tracks like “Plastic Scene” and “Thunders of Emotions” alongside more mid-tempo stompers like “Parasites” and melodic moments like “Murk Empire.” Of course, Dalay Tarda’s clean vocal choruses hit the mark each time, as if the band knew exactly where the melodic sweet spot was. Some of the highlights here include “The Threshold,” “Against All Odds,” and “Rise without Drama” (which has a slight Satariel feel to it). The diversity within the tracks is one of the strong points, alongside the melodic songwriting sensabilities.
If you ever wondered what In Flames would sound like if they took a thrashier route and had charismatic and powerful clean vocals, you owe it to yourself to give End vs Beginning a spin. Rise to Fall really lined all their ducks in a row on this one, and while it doesn’t deviate too far from what you’d expect from the genre, it’s a stunning execution of it. It’s been a pretty stellar year for melodic death metal thus far, and Rise to Fall stands out as one you shouldn’t miss.
