Fallujah heads for space.
For Xenotaph, their fourth album with Nuclear Blast, Scott Carstairs (guitar, live for Entheos), Evan Brewer (bass, ex-The Faceless), Kyle Schaefer (vocals, Archaeologist) and Sam Mooradian (guitar) called on Kevin Alexander La Palerma (Demise of the Crown, Disembodied Tyrant) on drums, as well as illustrator Peter Mohrbacher, with whom they collaborate for the third time, and engineers Dave Otero (Aborted, Cattle Decapitation, Archspire… ) and Mike Low (Oubliette, Inferi, Shadow of Intent…).
We’re greeted by In Stars We Drown, an initial rather vaporous composition that takes the time to place a few harmonics before Kyle adds his clean vocals, followed by a veritable blaze of rhythm. The jerky sound remains tinged with aerial influences, and screams also appear, but it’s when they join Kaleidoscopic Waves that the band really show their potential, letting screams and clean vocals answer each other under virulent riffs that are sometimes a little jerky but always heavy. As on Labyrinth of Stone, which focuses more on aggressive tones thanks to its vivid, syncopated patterns, the extremely well-crafted leads bring a heady cosmic quality, but there’s a strong contrast with the calmer parts, which soften the guitarists’ furious flights. Piercing touches accompany us to The Crystalline Veil and its short misty introduction, but riffs quickly return to weigh down the track while offering up some varied, catchy Prog roots, before becoming dull and ominous on Step Through the Portal and Breathe. The track is a skilful blend of pure violence and assumed complexity, whatever the instrument, pushing the vice to the point of creating hypnotic tones to accompany us on the finale to A Parasitic Dream, a shorter, more direct composition after a fairly soothing intro, and before its final which loses itself in nothingness. The Obsidian Architect takes up the slack, captivating us, the better to stun us and then weave its anguishing darkness, within which the vocal parts diversify to complement a rich rhythm section, but it’s finally with Xenotaph, the eponymous track, that the band delivers the coup de grace, unleashing its unrestrained fury, intensifying both the moments of floating, but above all the surges of rage right up to the final moments.
Despite changes in its lineup, Fallujah continues on its path paved with cosmic, complex riffs. Xenotaph takes advantage of its technicality to develop all aspects of Progressive Death, and thus proves to be very complete.
90/100