October Falls - A Collapse Of Faith

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\r\n  This is the third full-length album by the\r\nFinnish band October Falls and it’s entitled “A Collapse Of Faith”.  Starting as a solo project, they have also\r\nreleased three EPs and one split album. \r\nTheir new CD consists of three parts for a total of forty-two minutes.  The northern Europeans speak about wolves,\r\nfull moons and evergreen autumn forests. \r\nTheir music can be described as dark, melancholic, atmospheric\r\nmetal.  The only extreme metal reference here\r\nis the howling vocals.\r\n

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\r\n  The tempos are mostly slow and the drums and\r\nbass are creating a main frame.  On it,\r\nthe Finnish act is using the guitars and the mournful screams to weave their\r\nmusical net.  The first two parts include\r\nmany acoustic passages that are supposed to act as refreshing breaks.  To be honest, the length of these two songs\r\ncan be a deal breaker for some people. \r\nThere are some low points in those thirty-six minutes and monotony can\r\nbe an issue.  Nonetheless, October Falls\r\nare very dedicated and manage to come clean producing a quality result.  Furthermore, the six minute “Part III” that\r\ncloses the album, will make it up to all those that got a bit tired by the two aforementioned\r\nopuses!  A beautiful song with hardly any\r\nvocals, full of emotions and a cool bass-line.\r\n

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\r\n  It is obvious that October Falls are not\r\ninterested in creating radio friendly, easy listening songs.  Their music is not appropriate for\r\nheadbanging and one must really be in a specific mental state and mood in order\r\nto enjoy it.  Telling stories is what\r\nthey do and that takes time.  If I was\r\nfan of this genre, this is exactly what I would want to listen to from this\r\nband.  Despite that, I have more good\r\nthings to say than bad. One of these, is the piano ending of “Part II”, perhaps\r\nthe best song-ending I’ve listened to in a while.  It is the album’s highlight, along with the\r\nfirst half of “Part I” and the whole of “Part III”.  All of which are quite strong arguments,\r\nenough to deserve your attention.\r\n

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