“Becoming the catalyst of my own fate.”
It has been 3 years now since Fallujah caused quite the divide within their fanbase with their fourth album, Undying Light. The album signalled change in the Fallujah camp; it was the first release following the departures of long-term vocalist Alex Hofmann and rhythm guitarist Rob Maramonte, and marked the entrance of vocalist Antonio Palermo, leaving lead guitarist and primary songwriter Scott Carstairs as the sole guitarist. And stylistically, this showed. Vastly departing from the group’s signature brand of unpredictable yet oddly graceful technical death metal, the songs on Undying Light felt much more brute and straightforward. Whilst not a bad thing in and of itself, the album unfortunately lacks the individuality and identity that made its predecessors so impressive.
Now in 2022, the Bay Area squadron return with Empyrean, equipped with the vocals of Archaeologist frontman Kyle Schaeffer and basswork of genre titan Evan Brewer (formerly of The Faceless, Animosity, and Entheos) in addition to longtime drummer Andrew Baird and founding member Scott Carstairs. To put it bluntly, they are back with a vengeance. The group seems to have learned from the criticism of Undying Light, creating a record that is unmistakably Fallujah but with newfound energy and passion. The entire 52-minute duration is jam-packed with all the signature elements one could possibly want from a Fallujah record: empowering and triumphant lead guitar melodies, gorgeous ambient soundscapes, a fantastic display of vocal range, bombastic drumming sure to keep the listener on their toes, and unpredictable yet digestible song structures.
Empyrean wastes no time, throwing the listener directly into the fire with opening cut “The Bitter Taste Of Clarity”, an energetic tech-death rager playing overwhelmingly to the group’s strong ability to create a wonderful balance of aggression and melody. It is a heavier cut that mostly consists of rapid-fire syncopated rhythms, with the occasional lead melody lending a bit of extra color. The track immediately establishes a motif which is ever-present throughout the entirety of the record: the impactful climax. It culminates in a gargantuan instrumental blast section which fades gracefully into a peaceful piano outro. These come in different forms throughout the record, but one thing is constant: they are always absolutely fantastic. Whether it be a sprawling ambient soundscape or a vicious assault of polyrhythms and shred, these climaxes simply do not miss.
Nowhere is this evidenced better than in track 4, “Into The Eventide”. The majority of the track is relatively subdued by Fallujah standards, consisting of catchy trudging rhythms rather than rapid assaults, giving the listener a necessary and well-placed breather. However, at about the halfway point it drops into an ambient section featuring tranquil clean vocals provided by Katie Thompson (who also features on “Radiant Ascension”), which then leads into an absolutely massive blast section featuring some of Carstairs’ most memorable and empowering lead melodies yet. Anyone who is familiar with Fallujah knows what a talent the man is, but some of the stuff he accomplishes on this album is deserving of a Nobel Prize.
Every single melody and lead passage he writes immediately sticks, and “Into The Eventide” is a perfect example of that. Following the aforementioned blast section, the track absolves into a labyrinth of moving grooves and vast ambient passages, as well as one of the best solos all year. Vocally, the track is also a standout. Newcomer Kyle Schaeffer proves himself across the entire record, but on this track his ability to use a range of harsh vocals to compliment a track which is almost whimsical at points is absolutely astonishing. Couple this with the sections where his gutturals are layered with Katie Thompson’s clean vocals, and the track just becomes next level.
It is in no way uncommon for technical death metal and progressive metal to collide, and the two are often just thought about synonymously. Fallujah’s brand of tech-death is partially defined by their progressive tendency to create long and unpredictable tracks which have an almost Opeth-like sense of adventure and journey, but it is particularly extensive on Empyrean. Lead single “Radiant Ascension” and follow-up single “Embrace Oblivion” encompass this idea perfectly, along with closer “Artifacts”. Each of these range from 6-7 minutes in length and are undeniably ambitious in their structures. The former two particularly stand-out as genius singles because they both give tastes of practically everything the album has to offer but in a strangely digestible fashion, switching effortless from pummeling to serene at the blink of an eye.
Compositionally, Fallujah are remarkable. They also feature some of the catchiest and headbanging riffs the group has ever written, as well as some of the most memorable choruses yet, particularly “Radiant Ascension” with Schaeffer’s clean vocals. “Embrace Oblivion” stands tall particularly due to its near 50/50 split between serene clean sections and epic tech-death assaults. These clean sections showcase not only some of the most cinematic ambient textures Empyrean has to offer, but meditative clean vocals from both Schaeffer and the aforementioned Katie Thompson. Simply epic. Also adventurous, fittingly, is the open and airy closer, “Artifacts”, which is able to distinguish itself due to its more interesting structure — each passage feels much more elongated and open, rather than the quick shifts which usually compose Fallujah songs.
Although I have mentioned some of the vocal performances already, I feel as a whole they deserve much more attention. Just right out of the gate, Kyle Schaeffer is simply the best lead vocalist the band has had to date. Across the album, he demonstrates an unbelievable range and skill to write vocals that perfectly compliment the music. Realistically, in a band like this the vocals are bound to generally serve more as a compliment to the instrumentation than a focus. Schaeffer clearly understands this, and understands how to work within these bounds to accent the music the best he possibly can. His patterns, particularly while using his gutturals, are consistently tasteful and impressive without ever drawing focus away from the guitarwork. Additionally, his use of somber clean vocals is extremely complimentary to the music, during spacey ambient passages and open choral sections alike.
However, it is not just Schaeffer who keeps the vocals so exciting; across multiple tracks on the album, atmospheric cleans are provided by guest vocalists Tori Letzler and Katie Thompson, and each time they feature, the soundscapes are particularly massive and colorful. Lead single “Radiant Ascension” epitomises this, Letzler’s cleans giving an extra layer of texture to the already beautiful chorus. These vocals are never at the forefront of the mix, but are placed in such a way that they add a lot each time they are used. Also worth mentioning is “Mindless Omnipotent Master”, which features Entheos vocalist Chaney Crabb. Crabb contributes her signature goblin-like snarls in the middle portion of the track, creating an admirable break from Schaeffer’s frequent use of lower register gutturals. This vocal diversity is a small touch, but it is the small touches which add up on an album like this.
Unsurprisingly, the general highlight of Empyrean is the virtuosic guitarwork of Scott Carstairs, but it would be simply wrong to not bring attention to the drumming of Andrew Baird and bass work of Evan Brewer. Both of these individuals, along with the tasty rhythm guitarwork, create a perfect backbone for the high-end on this album to shine. Baird’s drumming is a clinic, but he demonstrates a commendable maturity multiple times throughout the record. There is of course no shortage of rapid-fire blast beats and visceral double bass patterns which undergo frequent shifts, but there is also a lot of points at which Baird holds back and gives a more digestible groove to the rhythm. Moments which not only provide necessary breathers but make the busier sections more impactful. The same can be said about the bass, which has many tasty moments; it is only natural for the bass to sink below a bit in the more rambunctious portions, so Brewer gives his most memorable performances in the clean atmospheric passages. Tracks such as “Soulbreaker” and instrumental offering “Celestial Resonance” boast gorgeous clean sections which are made even better by Brewer’s complimentary basswork to give more low-end during these synth-focused sections. Interesting grooves ensure this low-end is itself enjoyable.
An album’s flow is massively important in signaling how it will fare as a full effort and not just as individual tracks, and in the most straightforward way possible, Empyrean’s flow is perfect. As a whole, it is easy for an album of this ilk to blend together and become a wall of white noise, particularly when the tracks truly are all similar such as on Empyrean. So, the album uses small nuances to separate each track, and one effective way of doing this is through consistent use of individual intros and outros. There are many points on this album where one track will end on a beautiful ambient passage and lead into another track which opens on a similar tone to create necessary cohesion, but then will have a track end on an ambient passage and lead into a track which wastes no time in throwing the listener into the fire. This is exemplified immediately with the first two tracks, and oddly enough the final track. Closing track “Artifact” ends with a gorgeous synth passage which leads perfectly back into opening track “The Bitter Taste Of Clarity”, which bookends with another ambient passage before the chaos that is the intro of “Radiant Ascension”. Small touches such as this create for such an intriguing listening experience, giving more for the listener to discover with each repeat listen.
Empyrean is a clinic which demonstrates Fallujah at their absolute peak. Everything from the record’s flow to its overall songwriting to its massive soundscapes come together to create a near-perfect technical death metal and progressive metal opus. It is quite obvious that the band had no intentions of remaining a dismissible “has been” band following the release of their previous album and have bounced back in the fullest form possible. It will be a joy to see where they go from here in this new chapter.
9/10
Empyrean will be available September 9th via Nuclear Blast, and you can preorder it here.