Along with Mastodon, Shadow’s Fall are the latest metal darling to sign to a major label, and while Mastodon seem to have passed with flying colors, it seems Shadow’s Fall also seems on track to break the major label curse.

Now, let’s get one thing straight; I happen to think the Phil Labonte (now of All That Remains) fronted effort, Somber Eyes to the Sky and the first effort with Brian Fair at the helm, Of One Blood are the bands best efforts, and the modern more thrash based tones of the bands last two efforts, frankly bored me to tears. So taking that into account, and the fact the band is now officially major rock stars, didn’t bode well for this album. However, I’m actually really surprised at how decent Threads of Life turned out to be.

Lying somewhere between the expected commercial progression (mainly in the now about 80% clean vocals) that comes with being on a major label and their NWOAHM roots, Threads of Life is an album that should appease the suits at Atlantic looking for the new Metallica and their fans. It’s robust, catchy, well played, and with enough single styled material to bolster sales and radio play and enough chops to keep the fan base happy. I’ve got to give the band credit-they truck the balance between mainstream appeal and underground savvy perfectly.

Look no further than the albums first singles “Redemption” (along with high budget video) and “Venomous” for the encapsulation of the bands balance. Chunky, thrashy, yet restrained and with choruses made for radio play. Then for the business/money making side of things there’s simple, radio friendly tracks like “Storm Winds”, “Just Another Nightmare”, “Forevermore” and war ballad “Another Hero Lost”. For the fans, there’s enjoyable thrashers like “Dread Rising” and personal favorites “Failure of the Devout” and “Final Call”.

To top things off, the glossy production of big name producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Coheed and Cambria), shows the guy can do metal of any style, making for a polished, well done album that might signal the opening of the metal to major floodgates

[Visit the band's website]

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