Shadows Fall - The War Within REVIEW

The thing that makes SF music amazing to me is that it blends in all the lessons of the past and then churns out its own unique sound -- in many ways, it is a balance to keep all the different styles from flying apart or sounding like noise -- simply put, we thought Art of Balance was the most amazing stuff we heard in the metal genre in about a decade or so

I think the aspect that sets this one apart from its predecessor AOB is that elusive intangible aggro sound -- this CD is much cleaner sounding and all around good, but it lacks that push over the cliff -- that go to 11, if you know what I mean

I note also (along with many other reviewers) that the opening acoustic intro really is an interesting beginning to the album -- and like the other reviewers I must concur that at least the first three tracks, blend into each other seamlessly and regretfully uninterestingly -- the elements are there, the gallops, the harmonies, etc. -- it's like the songs just don't separate themselves from each other -- "Enlightened by the Cold" stands out the most from these opening tracks, but not by much -- I think this was just a case of too much of a good thing leading to indifference on my part

Aside from the brilliance on "What Drives The Weak", "The Power of I and I", and "Inspiration on Demand" which are really representative of all that is good and noteworthy about SF's sound, style, and technical brilliance -- "Ghosts of Past Failures" is a good, listenable power metal influenced track, heavy on the guitar melody and chug -- "Stillness" is a real solid, tight as well

I suppose I express some regret that the album did not take the form of the last two tracks -- "Eternity is Within" and "Those Who Cannot Speak" -- I guess if it did go in that direction it would literally be the fraternal twin of AOB -- admittedly there is a lot that I like about the AOB style of songs, melodic thrash, guitar solo melodies, clean and harsh vox, and just traditional metal compositional style

I thought about it for a little while, what if they mixed up the tracks in a different order for War Within -- would the listening experience have been better -- I'm not really sure that it would have been -- there's the rawer more straightforward aggressive stuff that just stands head up on the other tracks ---

Not to say that the other tracks suck or are bad -- they are slick, clean and have typical aspects of the SF sound, it's just they don't grab you -- they are missing the magic ingredient -- it's like when people notice that a key ingredient is missing from a recipe -- you can't really say, oh it's this ingredient and pinpoint it, you just go -- man, something is missing, even if this is pretty good

I have read this album compared in a review that I saw a while back (can't remember precisely which one) to the Jovi's shift from Slippery to Jersey -- like there really wasn't that much different about it, but Jersey is a step down even if it has the elements of what made Slip a breakthrough album -- that's about the closest that I can describe it as, as well