Shadows Fall - The War Within (2004)Release ID: 5391
Although I think all their best material has been crammed into the previous Shadows Fall album The Art of Balance, the real success came in with their fourth album The War Within, selling over 300,000 copies worldwide and becoming the best selling album by both the band and their label Century Media Records. This has very well been a turning point in the band's history!
Originally, Shadows Fall had a melodic death metal sound in their songs, but I guess becoming more of a thrash metalcore band has totally paid off. This album really does sound as metal as what many bands in the metal side of metalcore would do, but I still think it doesn't top off the thrash metalcore glory of The Art of Balance.
"The Light That Blinds" opens the album perfectly with a short acoustic intro, then the song itself follows with heavy, pounding rhythms, awesome guitar work, and a memorable catchy chorus. The following track, "Enlightened by the Cold" is one of my personal favorites, showing a lot of heavy riffing, incredible soloing, and another catchy chorus, all in just barely over 3 minutes. "Act of Contrition" has an excellent riff in the middle.
"What Drives the Weak" is another catchy track with some clean guitar breaks with, quoted from the lyrics, "a controlled dose of tranquillity". "Stillness" has a modern taste that should appeal to the youngsters (Did I just say the word "youngsters"? I ain't old!). "Inspiration on Demand" is a heavy but more mid-tempo song with some moving, beautiful ballad-like verses that flashback to the title track of their previous album. "The Power of I and I" is indeed a powerful track with pulverizing rhythms. "Ghosts of Past Failures" is a pretty good song but does not sound very memorable and convincing, nor have as much power as the previous songs.
Things get more brilliant and much less anti-climatic toward the end of the album, with the next-to-last track "Eternity is Within", another very powerful song with outstanding drum work and awesome guitar solos. As if the acoustic melody that started "The Light That Blinds" wasn't enough, the last song "Those Who Cannot Speak" starts with another acoustic intro then immediately crashes into a song that hearkens back to the band's melodic death metal past. This song is slightly similar to "A Fire in Babylon" (including that song's prelude), but with faster and heavier structure and solos. A great way to bring this album to a close!
The War Within may have been a slight letdown compared to the awesomeness of The Art of Balance, but it still has some much better stuff than the band's younger melodeath selves. I can see why this album is so darn popular. I would recommend this to any true metalhead. Go get this album! You'll never regret it....
Favorites: "Enlightened by the Cold", "What Drives the Weak", "Inspiration on Demand", "The Power of I and I", "Eternity is Within", "Those Who Cannot Speak"
