Often well-established genres within metal garner more respect in the hands of musicians from remote parts of the world. Although metalcore became a US staple during the late 90’s/early 2000’s thanks to the work of Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Unearth, and All That Remains among others – its global reach has provided plenty of staying power. Australian quartet Fall and Resist push a groovy blend of melodic death metal and metalcore, releasing a previous EP and album before this current EP Darkness of Now hits the pavement. Aiming to develop a more streamlined songwriting platform after his technical death work for Into Ruin, guitarist/vocalist Liam ‘Frosty’ Frost-Camilleri assembled a four-piece that deftly addresses strong riffing, sinister guitar melodies, pulsating energy from the rhythm section, plus vicious roars/growls that accent all the key signature moments in these four tracks.
Drilling down jackhammer rhythms and double kick/snare hits during “Nothing but Pain”, the subtle addition of acoustic guitars, swooping scoops, plus upward/descending electric melodies harkens classic Dark Tranquillity material. Extreme tremolo thunder and progressive drumming that moves from blast measures to thrash, death, and groove measures allows “Transient Forgiveness” to give the listener a dynamic beatdown, the patriotic guitar runs near the three-minute mark from Brendon Myers and Liam pure gold. The great thing about releasing a small segment of your material in this fashion is the ability to showcase a wider array of what you can offer as a band – which Fall and Resist delivers to the hilt. When the band wants to rear back and fire speedy parts tempered with the groove/breakdown sequences without being obvious, they succeed in spades for closer “As It All Starts to Fray” – caustic screams intertwine against the crunchy, shapeshifting music as the circular twin axe harmonies spring in at all the right occasions.
Reference points throughout this EP point to At the Gates circa Slaughter of the Soul, August Burns Red, plus the early efforts of Dark Tranquillity – yet these gentlemen inject the appropriate finesse and personal angles to not merely be knock offs of any one act in particular. Even the vocals have this personal, reflective aura that captivates, which can be rare strictly straying away from the emo/clean strains others may employ from time to time. As such, Fall and Resist are on a good path with Darkness of Now, setting the stage for hopefully another full-length and bigger things percolating from the underground.