Reviews list for Shadows Fall - Retribution (2009)

The previous Shadows Fall album, Threads of Life has a lot of thrash in their sound while keeping some metalcore. But for this one, their sixth studio effort (not including compilation Fallout From the War), Retribution, the sound is faster, heavier, and bringing back a bit more metalcore overpowering some of the thrash. Drummer Jason Bittner said that some songs are darker and angrier with lots of heaviness, crazy guitar, and "room for me to have some fun".

Shadows Fall is a band reigning in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, together with other bands such as Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage. Shadows Fall might not sound like a mainstream metalcore band but those guys never want to sound like a clone band. They still maintain their thrash-metalcore originality! Retribution is an album to love 90%. Only one or two songs in the album have breakdowns but many songs here have decent clean singing, killer drumming, and riffs from their old-school melodic death metal past. Pretty much ever song has at least one fast, brutal, or melodic guitar solo, which solo lovers would surely enjoy.

Sometimes, interludes work better as the intro to an album instead of smack in the middle, like this album's intro, "The Path to Imminent Ruin". Then it segues into "My Demise", a memorable 7-minute track with good variations, including well-written lyrics, plus a deep acoustic part in the middle and a rare breakdown.

"Still I Rise" is less impressive and weaker than some songs but still has some good points thanks to its heaviness and more driven chorus. "War" is a sonic thrash rudiment that is clearly inspired by 80s Slayer. "King of Nothing" manages to be a heavier and more enjoyable song with an irresistible chorus featuring guest vocals by Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe. He's an awesome vocalist, so anyone here who doesn't like his vocals, as I quote from the lyrics, "Quit your f***ing crying!!" "The Taste of Fear" and "Picture Perfect" slump the most due to the attempted use of backing vocals that's a little too much, not that it would necessarily ruin the tracks, but still not fitting. At least the track between those two, "Embrace Annihilation", makes up for that with full-band gang vocals that fit much better.

The last two tracks are a couple more songs that surpass 6 minutes in length. The former song, "A Public Execution" once again unleashes the band's well-known heavy thrash metal/metalcore wrath, and is one of the best songs of the album, maybe one of the best by the band. The last track, "Dead and Gone" retains the heavy nature, but adds some more melodic backing vocals that aren't as prominent as the lead vocals here.

Retribution is a more polished album with good strong vocals. This is another thrash album with some more metalcore elements, despite the lack of good breakdowns, and has some brilliant solos like the ones from their good old days of melodeath. Shadows Fall fans would not be disappointed by this album. Automatically worth it!

Favorites: "My Demise", "War", "King of Nothing", "Embrace Annihilation", "A Public Execution", "Dead and Gone"