The Fall of Troy
Doppelgänger
7.9
Yet another album to pass through the MetalReview.com arches to be maddeningly turned down by the majority of our readers for one reason and one reason alone: a sing-songy and poppy vocal style. Nevermind the fact that the music is artfully composed and that even the yells and screams are top-tier, there's no growling and the bass tapping parts aren't fast enough. However, for the few who have managed to read this far into the review, an array of enjoyable music may await you.
There's nothing I hate more than referencing The Mars Volta, which is why it pains me to use them to compare their delay-heavy brand of prog/fusion riffing to The Fall Of Troy's. While they resemble them from time to time, a more precise comparison might be a less-obnoxious version of The Blood Brothers. There's also a nod towards the more chaotic and dissonant acts like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan, but there's far more traditional structure and planning immediately evident from bar to bar, but not during the song as a whole. Note to note, they're all quite different, but the nature of the guitarwork grows from similar roots.
While I'd love to tote myself as being more open minded and accepting to different styles than everyone else, that isn't completely true. The band does have their lesser qualities in my own narrow-minded viewpoint. I have a hard time stomaching the high-pitched vocals at certain times due to how well they blend into the rest of the music. Their strength is also their weakness. Everything flows so smoothly. From the semi-ambient passages and interludes, to the dizzying wall-to-wall guitar parts, to their short ventures into the world of experimental electronic effects, The Fall Of Troy's biggest impediment is how carefully everything works together so well that the songs blur together. There needs to be more conflict within their sound or it flows too smoothly and becomes unremarkable. However, they walk a fine line with this concept where they are now. If they end up contrasting too much, another problem will arise in that the songs will end up sounding choppy. To break it down, they need to balance their songs and pattern them closer to the wildly unpredictable but rhythmically easy to follow track, "Whacko Jacko Steals the Elephant Man's Bones" or even the occasionally mildly passive and almost dreaminess of "Macaulay McCulkin".
Frankly, they're a younger band with a lot of skill and a powerful creative ear. Doppelgänger touches on some arresting and beautiful melodies, but lacks the refinement of more established acts. In spite of my grumblings, this is the kind of album you find buried in a pile a few months later and end up listening to for a week straight. After all is said, The Fall Of Troy have created an exceptionally intelligent record that shouldn't be passed up for fans of complex arrangements, teeth-chattering instrumentation, and punchy rhythms.
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The Fall of TroyManipulator
5/1/2007