Dead to Fall

Yet another in an agonisingly long line of modern hardcore bands adopting a bit of Swedish metallic melody, a lame sounding production, poorly triggered drums, the whole deal. I mean, when you do a snare roll and every hit on the snare sounds exactly the same, something’s missing, you know? Chicago’s Dead to Fall have all the elements in play that may make them a winner when it comes to Hot Topic fanatics, cheesy summer tour fests or the Victory Records roster (seriously, Victory should stick to the melodic indie stuff, that’s where they excel, oddly). But to a metal fan? Forget it. It’s cool to hear some sincere sounding anger in tracks like the standout "Smoke & Mirrors,” and the song titles across the board are pretty cool, but this is as boring as heavy music can get. And that Darkest Hour tempo, you know the one, has got to go. At least there are no metalcore guitar squeals, I suppose.