End vs Beginning

Modern melodic death metal is an almost extinct subgenre nowadays, with only selected bands still lingering in the niche. Some went on to playing more pop or alt. rock oriented music (like Sonic Syndicate, In Flames, Deadlock or Dreamshade), most are either hibernating or disbanded (like Scar Symmetry, Mercenary, Blinded Colony or Solution .45). Rise to Fall are along the few survivors that still stick to their guns and today I speak of their finest hour which happened in 2015 on their third album.

Now let’s talk of earworms. Those sweet delicious thingies as if picked straight from the jelly can, only in sonic shape. Imagine an album full of Trigger or Cloud Connected level material and that would be exactly how I view End vs Beginning. And yes, In Flames influence is more than obvious here. By this time the band had covered a lengthy way of establishing their own identity through almost ten years of existence and two full-lengths behind their belt so mind you, it’s a homage but certainly not replication (obvious hints are also included in the lyrics, like “Fragments of degeneration / Corrupting the atmosphere” or “Now follow your instincts / I'm sure they'll take you home / Like a wise man said one time”). So then, one might disagree but the amount of enormous hooks on this one is simply off the scale. All the means possible to create an infectious awe-striking melody are used in full swing. Soaring vocals are present in vast amounts so literally every track (well sans the midtro) comes with a poppy-in-a-good-way chorus and huge singalong parts. Alain Gutiérrez’ expertise in both flowing cleans and wild screams is far better than almost anything Anders Friden has squeezed out of himself for over a decade. Plenty of flam(es)ing leads and solos pop up to sweeten the metalcore-flavored riffs, a trending thing from the mid 00’s. The keys, mostly provided by Alessio Neroargento, really tend to steal the game again and again, his performance especially on tracks mentioned below is simply mindblowing, even Örjan Örnkloo was rarely this good (if ever?). Fine synths, powerful electronics, rich ambience, it’s all here over the top, as it should be.

The band drew the lucky number after the initial release of their debut when they got spotted by Disarmonia Mundi mastermind Ettore Rigotti who signed them on his own Coroner Records, post-produced the album with some solos, keyboards and vocal arrangements added. He was also responsible for their sophomore release, Defying the Gods, as a producer and sound engineer. With Disarmonia Mundi being one of my faves in the genre, I can’t help but agree with those considering Ettore’s sound design approach as plain brickwalling. It suits his own band to a degree but an hour of such music grants you an almost secured headache. It might be that these thoughts also occured to Hugo Markaida, Rise to Fall mastermind and songwriter (or maybe he simply ran out of painkillers). However it be, End vs Beginning was put in the hands of Jacob Hansen who definitely knows what to do with music of this kind. In the mid 00’s I used to see his signature as glossy plastic making all the bands sound the same but over time he started paying more attention to details in each particular case and I also found out his sound suited not only melodic death but also let’s say such symphonic albums as ‘April Rain’ by Delain or ‘Fallen Sanctuary’ by Serenity. In the mid 10’s Jacob was already a master of his work and with all his signature drums and the accentuated bass, Hansen still gives enough space for every instrument to sound in full. The guitars got the groove but not the blur. The lows and drums sound thick and tight. The keys and vocals are placed right in the center and you can catch every harmony nuance. This album couldn’t have got a better production.

The songwriting is as if aimed at some imaginary Gothenburg chartmaking with most part of it being occupied with highlights. Even though everything is built up around the quite basic variations of verse-chorus structure with very little derivation (the sole example of trying to produce something less simplistic is the closing Sustention, aiming for a more large-scale approach), the band perfected this attitude as much as they could, crafting a heavy handful of excellent tracks, of which the near one hour album runtime lets the listener pick those he finds the most appealing. Even comparatively less prosperous numbers from the second half (yep, the second half syndrome took its toll on this album as well) like Murk Empire or The Refuge, where the melody construction doesn’t feel exactly complete and finished, would have been quite worthy additions on any of the recent In Flames records. The only time things really tend to go wrong would probably be Dark Clowns Leading Blinds which simply goes nowhere from the very beginning and overall sounds like a rough demo. The first half, however, is a downpouring storm of melodies that carefully builds from more or less ‘simply good’ End vs. Beginning and The Threshold, over Plastic Scene with already an almost flawless chorus and into a ‘stairway to the skies’ trio of lofty Burning Signs, blossoming with serene crystal synths / fast-paced in your face Parasites / and finally simply gorgeous Rise Without Drama with an addition of an incredible solo by Dann Hoyos (who is now a full-time member of the band so I hope now he delivers these in фигтвфтсу). After some mixed numbers, however, the album ends on a delightful and atmospheric note with Unspeakable Sins and the already mentioned Sustention.

So this is pretty much as good as it gets, completed with a captivating futuristic artwork depicting life sprouting from a single drop of water, its centerpiece. The only possible complaint is that you won’t find much of a compositional variety here, every song is basically the same backbone and the album never gives you a break. Still I say: maybe this horse knows only a handful of tricks but it knows them better than the most. In fact End vs Beginning is one of the best modern melodeath album in my books towering right next to such pillars as ‘Fragments of D-Generation’, ‘For Aeons Past’, ‘Soundtrack to Your Escape’ or ‘MyGrain’. And it saddens me it never got the attention it undoubtedly deserves.

I reviewed Rise to Fall's debut Restore the Balance some time ago, and it did anything but what the nomenclature promised. For a band trying to push the whole electronic metalcore angle ala Crossfaith, Silent Descent and Emergency Gate there is a disconcerting lack of synthetic overtones. What you get instead is fairly rote, glossy sixth-generation Gothenburg pandering holding onto the faintest outline of ostensible melodic death, lacking in both the exciting transitions and slicing aggression that is nominally exhibited by even the sparsest exemplars of the genre. That said, Rise to Fall have definitely managed to hone their craft (or whatever you want to call this) over time, upstaging both the flaccid debut and 2012's Defying the Gods, so there are positives strewn about if one has the patience to mitigate the vapid thrust of the remainder of End vs Beginning.

An irrefutably flawed listen to be sure, and an exhausting one at that. End vs Beginning runs nearly an hour, featuring a Rage-number of full tracks at fifteen. Ironically, just like Wagner's power metal institution, the level of quality is actually somewhat consistent, and this is one sector in which End vs Beginning supersedes its predecessors. Much of this album is competently-delivered melodic metalcore, injected with a pick-me-up of faux harshness in the form of machine gun double bass and distinct hooks. The fibrous and enchanting title track serves as a functional opener and makes this much obvious at the outset: Rise to Fall have dialed in their approach and rarely saunter in between lukewarm ideas like was commonplace on their earlier material. The synth is featured extensively, but hardly to the point of active annoyance. Most songs open with a catchy electronic blabber that locks into the verse structure and intertwines on the way to meaningful melodic returns.

Mellower tunes like "Rise Without Drama" sound like Skyfire meets Soilwork, two highly esteemed acts and a fusion worth exploring further. The guest vocals courtesy of Aimar Antxia make this song one of the individual highlights of this thing, and scream of the potential lurking withing this project as a whole. That said, there are definitely an equal number of moments wherein I found myself zoning out courtesy of the aforementioned "consistency" of the album. In fact, the same exact song seems to make multiple appearances, one which cranks up the aggression without the melodic equivalent to provide equal and opposite reaction. One of these examples is undoubtedly "Thunders of Emotions Beating," which is loud, fast and boring. Conversely, End vs Beginning catches a second wind of sorts as it reaches its conclusion. The "Welcome to the Refuge" suite features an escalating verse structure and Scar Symmetry-esque refrain that should convert a few fence-sitters.

And as polished and refined a product as End vs Beginning is, it could still stand to use more keyboards to help counterpoint the ultra-melodic vocals as opposed to flippant and uneventful guitar progressions that halfheartedly inject vitriol at the eleventh hour to pass muster on a strictly metal level. In this regard, I don't think that Rise to Fall will ever wholly satiate that bracket, so why not just pull a Crossfaith and have a blast with the tools given at your disposal? Save for a few burners like "Emptiness," truly convincing guitar lines are unaccounted for, and this means that End vs Beginning is another album that I find a hard time recommending to those reading this review. If you can stomach highly melodic metalcore and get a kick out of flagrant electronics, this might be worth a spin or two. Rise to Fall were never really going anywhere, so I doubt many expectations will be crushed by this release. Honestly, the fact that the band is improving is worthy of some respect, so lets give Rise to Fall some reverence for delivering a listenable record in End vs Beginning.


Promo courtesy of The Metal Observer