Fallen Martyr

The Six Roots Of True Will

Written by: PP on 23/12/2009 17:06:21

Maryland, US based quintet Fallen Martyr released their six track debut EP "The Six Roots Of True Will" earlier this year, but they have already sparked comments such as "they have so much talent it hurts" on Last.fm. I'm gonna go ahead and agree with that comment, because it's not too often you come across as professionally produced, sounding, and played debut EP as this one. Fallen Martyr are riding on the dead horse of metalcore, but they integrate enough thrash, black, melodeath and progressive metal elements to the mix to keep things interesting throughout.

Atmospheric keyboards similar to those heard on symphonic black metal records are used at the background, but the band doesn't actually have a keyboard player enlisted, so I'm guessing it's all programmed and will come from a backing track when they're playing live. But that's no biggie, the band's competence with their axes more than makes up for that shortcoming, as based on the tracks on offer here, I know I'll rather be watching the fingers of these guys run up and down the fretboard than spend time figuring out where the keyboard player is. Think All That Remains and older Avenged Sevenfold material (the good stuff): melodic hook and lead-driven metalcore with plenty of 'wow' moments and instantly memorable choruses. Clean vocals are used without restraint during most choruses, but at no point do they feel tacky, even though on more than one occasion I was sure that the band had brought in M Shadows to sing these parts. Especially "All In" and "Like A Sinking Feeling" have a clean vocal dynamic that should instantly remind you of a song like "Beast And The Harlot". You know, those catchy, extended cries that make the songs particularly memorable.

Instrumentally, majority of the album features thrash metallized metalcore with melodeath elements scattered all around. The band takes good advantage of hooks and melodic leads to draw the listener into the Avenged Sevenfold-esque choruses, while the calm keyboard symphonies add a nice counterweight to the slaying guitars. Granted, it's nothing you haven't heard before, but yet Fallen Martyr sound more convincing than most of their colleagues....and they're just on their debut EP!

Download: Like A Sinking Feeling, All In
For the fans of: All That Remains, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Avenged Sevenfold
Listen: Myspace

Release date 05.06.2009
Self-Released

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