Coming from Phoenix, Arizona we have Fracture Point with their independently released debut full-length, Inherit the Downfall. A four piece, Fracture Point blend elements of thrash, groove and semi-technical playing in a style that is distinctly American, drawing comparison to Lamb of God, Pantera and Meshuggah.

What you won’t find on Inherit the Downfall is a lot of shred, lead work or solos, as there seems to be a huge emphasis on rhythm and powerful, groove heavy riffs. Sometimes jagged, tech-y , and ever twisting (“IED”, “Inherit the Downfall” and slow burning but heavy-as-fuck “Witness in the Shroud”) , others are more straight forward to really pronounce the groove (“Image”, “Mindruin”, “Manic Aggression”), and at times its balanced out, switching between modes (“Fear Path” , “Face of Pain”, “Failure State”) – it’s pretty obvious guitarist Matt Hobart has spent some time to create riffs that stand apart from one another. Vocalist Ben Rosputni , on the other hand tends to be a bit one dimensional and monotonous, taking a typical of the genre agro approach, bearing a slight resemblance to Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. The star of the show however is drummer Dan Ammon – never really putting the hammer down or letting loose with blasts or insane double bass, but he’s all over his kit with some interesting rhythms and unique fills.

They attempt to diversify and broaden their sound a bit more with a piano section at the tail end of “Last Minute”, and brief interlude “Syntropy” with layered and melodic, clean picked guitar, but these moments just feel like they were tacked on as an afterthought. The one instance where it works is in five minute instrumental closer “J69”, where they play around a little bit with atmosphere, tribal like drums and some excellent soloing.

Inherit the Downfall is a competent debut from a promising young band. With a bit more time and experience, they could develop into a potent thrash/groove band, but for the time being, I’d recommend this to fans of the style or the bands mentioned above.

[Visit the band's website]

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