Review Summary: "They'll forget you"
Blessthefall have been under the metal enthusiast’s radar for the past few years, and there’s a reason for that. Ever since their third album
Awakening, Blessthefall have been struggling to find a way to make themselves stand out amongst the metal community. They’ve had a few memorable moments here and there, but much of their material was inoffensive. They’re previous album,
Hollow Bodies, seemed to show that the band didn’t have anywhere else to go. It wasn’t a bad album by any means; the production was decent, it had good flow, and instrumentation was energetic, but showed that the group was running out of ideas fast. Their latest effort,
To Those Left Behind is the result of stagnation at its absolute worst, and it shows in every single aspect.
There are literally no improvements to be found here whatsoever. In fact, there’s even a few downgrades compared to their earlier material, Jared being the best example. His unclean vocals seem strained and show little energy throughout his entire performance in the record, and this is from a vocalist who wasn’t very original in the first place. Even most of the instrumentation feels half-assed at times. Opener ‘Decayer’ is a prime example of this as it’s essentially a recycled version of ‘Exodus’ from
Hollow Bodies. The guitar riffs fail to deliver any complexity to the track’s melody (or lack thereof) while the drums seem exhausted in the rhythm. Even the attempts at experimentation on ‘Condition // Comatose’ and the (thankfully) short ‘Keep What We Love’ feel bland rather than different, and even then it doesn’t break any real barriers for the genre in general. Beau Boken has often been cited as a major annoyance to audiences and those who didn’t like him in the past will certainly hate him in this record. Jared seemingly disappears after the first few songs while Beau literally steals the show on songs like ‘Dead Air’ and ‘Looking Down from the Edge’. To give him some credit though, he does have a few decent moments such as on the chorus of ‘Walk on Water’ and the title track.
The overall sound of
To Those Left Behind is more or less a continuation from
Hollow Bodies, meaning that the predictability factor is incredibly high from beginning to end. The overall hooks of ‘Decayer’ and lead single ‘Up in Flames’ are about as forgettable as what you ate for breakfast, and the “djent-y” riffs of ‘Walk on Water’ ultimately show that the band are desperate to deliver catchy rhythms to gain the listeners attention. Every song repeats the same exact formula from here to their previous albums. The record's structure is about as standard as it gets, the guitar melodies as dull as a rock, and a complete bereft of solos to give the rest of the band a chance to shine. The only track that manages to stand out completely on its own is the title track. It’s one of the few moments with a decent amount of vigor and memorable riffs that it prevents the album from being a complete waste of time.
To Those Left Behind is as predictable as it gets on every single level, and the only ones that will be even remotely interested in this are those who are among their fanbase. It is true that Blessthefall do have talent and the potential, but the main problem is that that they fail to do anything really impactful about it. There’s absolutely nothing unique or memorable about
To Those Left Behind and it has proved to be nothing more than the band’s possible death sentence. For anyone looking to find good metalcore in 2015, do yourself a favor: look elsewhere and leave this album behind.
