Review Summary: Beyond the Last Light is another excellent offering from Comes With the Fall, and features the band as comfortably as ever in their place. Even though the future of the band so far is unknown, this album should not go unnoticed.
Rising from the ashes of the glam rock outfit Madfly, came Comes With the Fall. Growing more and more annoyed by the otherwise fun antics that accompany glam bands, the band changed their name and opted for a darker and more organic approach. They were soon noticed by non-other than Jerry Cantrell from the then broken-up Alice in Chains, who happened to be a great fan of the band and also played more than a handful of shows with them. Without going into further detail; in 2007 Comes With the Fall’s front man William DuVall became an official member of Alice in Chains, participating in their successful reunion; but not before releasing three great albums, one of them being Beyond the Last Light.
Perhaps unjustly, but some comparisons to Alice in Chains will surely be drawn one way or another. Besides the obvious vocal similarities, both bands share equal love for both heavy riffs and heartfelt melodies and a refusal to surpass 120 beats per minute (OK yes, not much of a comparison). It would be an incredibly huge mistake to dismiss Comes With the Fall as another one of those generic post-grunge bands. They are a straightforward hard rock band and also a hard rock band at heart. There is a definite 90s mentality behind the album though and it’s pleasantly nostalgic without ever feeling outdated.
DuVall is unmistakably the star of the show, handling the duties of both guitar and vocals, while the rhythm section sets up a nice groove and pocket. His riffs are the driving force, and fall somewhere in the realm of stoner rock, a lot of times they are also psychedelically tinged. His voice, a mixture of Cornell and Staley, is maybe best described as simply powerful. His range is never in question, whether it’s the angry vocals on the straightforward opener Rockslide or hopelessly awaiting death on the decadent track Pale Horse Rider.
There is a fair share of mellower and more positive songs on their third album, more so than on their previous outings, such as the love songs White Hot and Still Got a Hold On My Heart; the latter slightly resembling Black Hole Sun. In most cases lines such as ‘…let's fly into the sun, my love.’ might sound cheesy, but the band pulls it off remarkably well, sounding truly genuine, so you won’t feel ashamed singing along.
Other noteworthy tracks; Black Cross, is the album’s longest track on the album with six minutes or so. They further explore their sound here even adding Middle Eastern melodies to the mix. Hologram on the other hand is a good demonstration of what the band is capable of in little more than three minutes time.
Beyond the Last Light is another excellent offering from Comes With the Fall, and features the band as comfortably as ever in their place. Even though the future of the band so far is unknown, this album should not go unnoticed.
