Fallen Leaves & Dead Sparrows

Amoral have had quite an interesting and polarizing history given their relatively short duration. They have transcended from technical death metal to their current, and controversial, progressive power metal. They have employed the talents of a Finnish Idol winner, albeit one who sang songs from Finnish powerhouses like Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica. Ben Varon and Juhana Karlsson have been the only the consistent factors amongst all their releases, and this erratic approach is not amiss on Fallen Leaves & Dead Sparrows either, with the average song length being in the ballpark of seven minutes and vocalist, Ari Koivunen’s, vocals playing second fiddle to the convoluted songwriting.

To me, Ari has always had what I like to call “Kotipelto Syndrome”. Much like PelleK and Tommy Johansson, he has a voice that can come off as incredibly whiny and bothersome, at least until one adapts to their timbre and delivery. For some people this won’t be a matter in listening to the music, but it definitely provided a roadblock for my enjoyment of this album. It certainly isn’t accommodating either that Ari’s incredibly melodic vocals are suffocated to limiting styles; rarely do we get a soaring chorus or a vocal melody worthy of an earworm, but instead we are delivered Ari’s stifled singing with a foreground of music that does not fit his voice, and vice-versa.

Unfortunately, the disappointment doesn’t end there, for everything else on this album screams mediocrity. While the music generally follows the styles of fellow proggers Seventh Wonder and Circus Maximus, sans keyboards, quite a lot of other influences, ranging from Pink Floyd to Black Sabbath to modern death metal, are thrown in. The duo of “Blueprints” and “If not Here, Where?” emphasize this eclectic nature very well and are the probably my favorite tracks from the album. “Blueprints” provides a calm and almost-country soundscape, quite reminiscent of Twin Peaks’ or Deadly Premonition’ soundtrack, which acts as a great foil for its following number, full of twists, turns, growled vocals, blast beats, and acoustic guitar work. But not all of the tracks are of this caliber; many moments run the gamut from forgettable to plodding, sometimes within the same song. Quite aptly named, “Prolong a Stay” is a prime contender for this misdeed, as is album opener, “On the Other Side Pt. I”.

For all the light at the end of the tunnel, Fallen Leaves & Dead Sparrows ultimately suffers greatly from its forgettable and bland nature. For every success on this album, there are just as many shortcomings, and from a band this experienced, captivating songwriting and compelling music should be a hindrance no more. This is an incredibly demanding release due to this attribute. It would take tens of listens to grow accustomed to all of the repetitive natures contained within this album, but I certainly don’t think it’s, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad album. It’s definitely creatively out there, however there’s definitely talent to be found on here and definitely a song or two for all metalheads to enjoy.

Written for The Metal Observer...See More

After reading bad review after bad review of these guys just because so many people are still upset that they stopped playing death metal several years ago left me compelled to write a review for those people who would actually probably enjoy this. I will admit that there has been a drastic change in style from album to album and even a bit of cheesy song titles on the first couple of albums since previous Finland Idols winner Ari Koivunen took over on vocals, including their singles Year of the Suckerpunch and Wrapped in Barbwire. With Show Your Colors and Beneath I feel that its pretty obvious that they were still struggling to find their sound.

With their third album Fallen Leaves and Dead Sparrows we see them take a much more mature approach to their music while still adapting a wide variety of styles. Even the album cover has become much more artistic. The opening track On the Other Side Part 1, which clocks in at over 7 minutes, starts off with some almost metalcore sounding melodic riffs before kicking off the vocals. A slower paced song, but from the beginning we can tell how much Ari's voice has matured. At times he sounds very close to Michael Eriksen of Circus Maximus. In fact this song sounds like something that would have been on their album Nine. Their lyrics to this have also progressed greatly from previous albums. This is essentially a song about regret over things done wrong and hoping for second chances. The guitar solo to this song is absolutely phenomenal, extremely melodic and musically technical without being too overbearing and off putting. The track ends with one of Ari's highest notes in the entire song and back into the intro riff. Easily one of the best tracks on the album.

No Familiar Faces sounds even moreso like a newer Circus Maximus song. The guitar solo is even much more progressive sounding than several from past albums. From the second track we can probably conclude that we can add another genre change to this band's list. This is definitely fan more closer to progressive metal than it is power. There are multiple guitar solos, extremely melodic vocals, a midpaced tempo, and much more mature lyrics.

Prolong a Stay begins with a riff that almost sounds like something that a pop punk or screamo band would play, then begins some extremely epic sounding orchestral keyboards. The guitar parts to this kind of chug along like most new progressive metal seems to and Ari's voice is still extremely clean and melodic. Then about half way through the song it turns into pretty much a black metal song for about 30 seconds on so with a lot of blast beats and warp speed guitar picking. The solo once again is extremely melodic and technical and has a twin lead part towards the end of it. It commences with the same black metal sounding parts as before along with some more orchestral keyboards I would definitely venture to say for being a slower paced song for most of the track it is probably the most diverse on the entire album.

On the fourth track we get a completely acoustic bluesy song called Blueprints. It still remains rather progressive at parts and I feel like it almost sounds like something that would be on Opeth's Damnation album only with slightly higher vocals. For some reason they even chose to make this their first music video off of the album. I do understand the reasoning behind this, considering the song is rather laid back and accessible.

If Not Here, Where is the longest song on the album, clocking in at just over 9 minutes. It also starts off acoustically for about a minute and a half until Ari's singing begins. It carries on quite beautifully as an acoustic song until about the 3 minute mark until the drums and electric guitar kicks in. From here we actually get a few djent riffs that still happen to sound extremely technical and then for the first time in the album some harsh vocals. The off timing progressive riffs keep coming and the vocals are even traded off between Ari's extremely clean vocals and the death growls. The solo continues with pretty much the main theme of the entire album, extremely melodic and progressive. About the last minute of the song goes back to being black metal, really fast picking on top of blast beats. Once again this is another extremely diverse track with a lot going on, and probably a good place to start for people who want to give the band another chance after the genre change from death metal.

Then we get to the point of the album that many progressive bands have, the instrumental track. The Storm Arrives is full of guitar genius. At times some of the riffs almost sound Iron Maiden-ish, then they go back to being really dark and progressive and even including more djent riffs. There are melodic and technical guitar leads all over the place on this track. I am typically not a fan of songs without vocals, but this is definitely not a throwaway instrumental.

See Through This begins as a piano ballad with some open guitar chords. Continuing with the theme it has some slow yet melodic guitar leads. The song is definitely a showcase of Ari's singing ability. Once again there are some incredibly melodic guitar solos here as well. The song is extremely melodic all the way through and is probably the most emotional song on the album as well.

The final track, On The Other Side Part 2, is nothing like the first part. It actually screams newer Dream Theater. It is a midpaced track that would fit right in on Octavarium, and at over 9 minutes would be one of the longer songs on it. There are a few harsh vocals in this track as well, but it remains pretty slow throughout most of it. There are several deep acoustic guitar riffs in this song and even sounds like Peruvian Skies at times. This melodic and semi-epic track to me is probably one of the best ways they could have ended the album.

For the people who are mad that they turned from death metal to power metal can still continue to be mad that they turned to progressive metal and should probably spend their time listening to something else instead of hoping that they go back one day. In my honest opinion there is almost nothing power metal about this and is a pretty amazing and solid prog metal release, perhaps one of the best of 2014 so far. I really hope they continue to build off the greatness of this in the future.